University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM 


BOOKER  T.   WASHINGTON. 


The 

Negro  Problem 

o      O 

A  SERIES  OF  ARTICLES  BY 
REPRESENTATIVE  AMERI- 
CAN NEGROES  OF  TO-DAY 

r 

Contributions  by 

BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON,  Principal  of 
Tuskegee  Institute,  W.  E.  BURGHARDT 
DuBois,  PAUL  LAURENCE  DUNBAR, 
CHARLES  W.  CHESNUTT,  and  others 


New  Tork 

JAMES  POTT  &  COMPANY 

1903 


Copyright,  1903,  by  James  Pott  &  Company 

E/85 
REESE 


PRINTED  SEPTEMBER,    1903 


CONTENTS 

I  Industrial  Education  for  the  Negro 

Booker  T.  Washington       j 

II  The  Talented  Tenth 

W.  E.  Eurghardt  DuBois     3 1 

III  The  Disfranchisement  of  the  Ne- 

gro Charles  W.  Chesnutt     77 

IV  The  Negro  and  the  Law 

WilfordH.  Smith   125 

V  The  Characteristics  of  the  Negro 

People  H.  T.  Kealing   161 

VI  Representative  American  Negroes 

Paul  Laurence  Dunbar  187 

VII  The    Negro's    Place   in   American 

Life  at  the  Present  Day 

T.  Thomas  Fortune  1 1 1 


192765 


Industrial  Education  for  the  Negro 

By  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON, 
Principal  of  Tuskegee  Institute 

The  necessity  for  the  race's  learning  the  difference  be- 
tween being  worked  and  working.  He  would  not  confine 
the  Negro  to  industrial  life,  but  believes  that  the  very  best 
service  which  any  one  can  render  to  what  is  called  the 
" higher  education"  is  to  teach  the  present  generation  to 
work  and  save.  This  will  create  the  wealth  from  which 
alone  can  come  leisure  and  the  opportunity  for  higher 
education. 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION  FOR 
THE  NEGRO 

[One  of  the  most  fundamental  and  far-reach- 
ing deeds  that  has  been  accomplished  during 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century  has  been  that  by 
which  the  Negro  has  been  helped  to  find  him- 
self and  to  learn  the  secrets  of  civilization — to 
learn  that  there  are  a  few  simple,  cardinal  prin- 
'ciples  upon  which  a  race  must  start  its  upward 
course,  unless  it  would  fail,  and  its  last  estate 
be  worse  than  its  first.  / 

It  has  been  necessary  for  the  Negro  to  learn 
the  difference  between  being  worked  and  work- 
ing— to  learn  that  being  worked  meant  degra- 
dation, while  working  means  civilization;  that 
all  forms  of  labor  are  honorable,  and  all  forms 
of  idleness  disgraceful.  It  has  been  necessary 
for  him  to  learn  that  all  races  that  have  got 

[9] 


The  Negro  Problem 

upon  their  feet  have  done  so  largely  by  laying 
an  economic  foundation,  and,  in  general,  by 
beginning  in  a  proper  cultivation  and  owner- 
ship of  the  soil. 

Forty  years  ago  my  race  emerged  from  slav- 
ery into  freedom.  If,  in  too  many  cases,  the 
Negro  race  began  development  at  the  wrong 
end,  it  was  largely  because  neither  white  nor 
black  properly  understood  the  case.  Nor  is  it 
any  wonder  that  this  was  so,  for  never  before 
in  the  history  of  the  world  had  just  such  a 
problem  been  presented  as  that  of  the  two  races 
at  the  coming  of  freedom  in  this  country. 

For  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  I  believe 
the  way  for  the  redemption  of  the  Negro  was 
being  prepared  through  industrial  development. 
Through  all  those  years  the  Southern  white 
man  did  business  with  the  Negro  in  a  way  that 
no  one  else  has  done  business  with  him.  In 
most  cases  if  a  Southern  white  man  wanted  a 
house  built  he  consulted  a  Negro  mechanic 
about  the  plan  and  about  the  actual  building  of 
the  structure.  If  he  wanted  a  suit  of  clothes 

[10] 


Industrial  Education 

made  he  went  to  a  Negro  tailor,  and"  for  shoes 
he  went  to  a  shoemaker  of  the  same  race.  In 
a  certain  way  every  slave  plantation  in  the 
South  was  an  industrial  school.  On  these 
plantations  young  colored  men  and  women 
were  constantly  being  trained  not  only  as  farm- 
ers but  as  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  wheel- 
wrights, brick  masons,  engineers,  cooks,  laun- 
dresses, sewing  women  and  housekeepers. 

I  do  not  mean  in  any  way  to  apologize  for 
the  curse  of  slavery,  which  was  a  curse  to  both 
races,  but  in  what  I  say  about  industrial  train- 
ing in  slavery  I  am  simply  stating  facts.  This 
training  was  crude,  and  was  given  for  selfish 
purposes.  It  did  not  answer  the  highest  ends, 
because  there  was  an  absence  of  mental  train- 
ing in  connection  with  the  training  of  the  hand. 
To  a  large  degree,  though,  this  business  con- 
tact with  the  Southern  white  man,  and  the  in- 
dustrial training  on  the  plantations,  left  the 
Negro  at  the  close  of  the  war  in  possession  of 
nearly  all  the  common  and  skilled  labor  in  the 
South.  The  industries  that  gave  the  South 


The  Negro  Problem 

its  power,  prominence  and  wealth  prior  to  the 
Civil  War  were  mainly  the  raising  of  cotton, 
sugar  cane,  rice  and  tobacco.  Before  the  way 
could  be  prepared  for  the  proper  growing  and 
marketing  of  these  crops  forests  had  to  be 
cleared,  houses  to  be  built,  public  roads  and 
railroads  constructed.  In  all  these  works  the 
Negro  did  most  of  the  heavy  work.  In  the 
planting,  cultivating  and  marketing  of  the 
crops  not  only  was  the  Negro  the  chief  depend- 
ence, but  in  the  manufacture  of  tobacco  he  be- 
came a  skilled  and  proficient  workman,  and  in 
this,  up  to  the  present  time,  in  the  South,  holds 
the  lead  in  the  large  tobacco  manufactories. 

In  most  of  the  industries,  though,  what  hap- 
pened? For  nearly  twenty  years  after  the 
war,  except  in  a  few  instances,  the  value  of  the 
industrial  training  given  by  the  plantations 
was  overlooked.  Negro  men  and  women 
were  educated  in  literature,  in  mathematics  and 
in  the  sciences,  with  little  thought  of  what  had 
been  taking  place  during  the  preceding  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  except,  perhaps,  as 

[12] 


Industrial  Education 

something  to  be  escaped,  to  be  got  as  far  away 
from  as  possible.  As  a  generation  began  to 
pass,  those  who  had  been  trained  as  mechanics 
in  slavery  began  to  disappear  by  death,  and 
gradually  it  began  to  be  realized  that  there 
were  few  to  take  their  places.  There  were 
young  men  educated  in  foreign  tongues,  but 
few  in  carpentry  or  in  mechanical  or  architect- 
ural drawing.  Many  were  trained  in  Latin, 
but  few  as  engineers  and  blacksmiths.  Too 
many  were  taken  from  the  farm  and  educated, 
but  educated  in  everything  but  farming.  For 
this  reason  they  had  no  interest  in  farming  and 
did  not  return  to  it.  And  yet  eighty-five  per 
cent,  of  the  Negro  population  of  the  Southern 
states  lives  and  for  a  considerable  time  will 
continue  to  live  in  the  country  districts.  The 
charge  is  often  brought  against  the  members  of 
my  race — and  too  often  justly,  I  confess — that 
they  are  found  leaving  the  country  districts  and 
flocking  into  the  great  cities  where  temptations 
are  more  frequent  and  harder  to  resist,  and 
where  the  Negro  people  too  often  become  de- 


The  Negro  Problem 

moralized.  Think,  though,  how  frequently  it 
is  the  case  that  from  the  first  day  that  a  pupil 
begins  to  go  to  school  his  books  teach  him 
much  about  the  cities  of  the  world  and  city  life, 
and  almost  nothing  about  the  country.  How 
natural  it  is,  then,  that  when  he  has  the  order- 
ing of  his  life  he  wants  to  live  it  in  the  city. 

Only  a  short  time  before  his  death  the  late 
Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington,  to  whose  memory  a 
magnificent  library  has  just  been  given  by  his 
widow  to  the  Hampton  Institute  for  Negroes, 
in  Virginia,  said  in  a  public  address  some 
words  which  seem  to  me  so  wise  that  I  want  to 
quote  them  here : 

"Our  schools  teach  everybody  a  little  of  al- 
most everything,  but,  in  my  opinion,  they 
teach  very  few  children  just  what  they  ought 
to  know  in  order  to  make  their  way  success- 
fully in  life.  They  do  not  put  into  their  hands 
the  tools  they  are  best  fitted  to  use,  and  hence 
so  many  failures.  Many  a  mother  and  sister 
have  worked  and  slaved,  living  upon  scanty 
food,  in  order  to  give  a  son  and  brother  a  "lib- 
[14] 


Industrial  Education 

eral  education,"  and  in  doing  this  have  built 
up  a  barrier  between  the  boy  and  the  work  he 
was  fitted  to  do.  Let  me  say  to  you  that  all 
honest  work  is  honorable  work.  If  the  labor 
is  manual,  and  seems  common,  you  will  have 
all  the  more  chance  to  be  thinking  of  other 
things,  or  of  work  that  is  higher  and  brings 
better  pay,  and  to  work  out  in  your  minds  bet- 
ter and  higher  duties  and  responsibilities  for 
yourselves,  and  for  thinking  of  ways  by  which 
you  can  help  others  as  well  as  yourselves,  and 
bring  them  up  to  your  own  higher  level." 

Some  years  ago,  when  we  decided  to  make 
tailoring  a  part  of  our  training  at  the  Tuskegee  i/ 
Institute,  I  was  amazed  to  find  that  it  was  al- 
most impossible  to  find  in  the  whole  country 
an  educated  colored  man  who  could  teach  the 
making  of  clothing.  We  could  find  numbers 
of  tfiem  who  could  teach  astronomy,  theology, 
Latin  or  grammar,  but  almost  none  who  could 
instruct  in  the  making  of  clothing,  something 
that  has  to  be  used  by  every  one  of  us  every 
day  in  the  year.  How  often  have  I  been  dis- 

[15] 


The  Negro  Problem 

couraged  as  I  have  gone  through  the  South, 
and  into  the  homes  of  the  people  of  my  race, 
and  have  found  women  who  could  converse  in- 
telligently upon  abstruse  subjects,  and  yet 
could  not  tell  how  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  poorly  cooked  and  still  more  poorly  served 
bread  and  meat  which  they  and  their  fam- 
ilies were  eating  three  times  a  day.  It  is 
discouraging  to  find  a  girl  who  can  tell  you  the 
geographical  location  of  any  country  on  the 
globe  and  who  does  not  know  where  to  place 
the  dishes  upon  a  common  dinner  table.  It  is 
discouraging  to  find  a  woman  who  knows  much 
about  theoretical  chemistry,  and  who  cannot 
properly  wash  and  iron  a  shirt. 

In  what  I  say  here  I  would  not  by  any  means 
have  it  understood  that  I  would  limit  or  cir- 
cumscribe the  mental  development  of  the  Negro 
student.  No  race  can  be  lifted  until  its  mind 
is  awakened  and  strengthened.  By  the  side 
of  industrial  training  should  always  go  mental 
and  moral  training,  but  the  pushing  of  mere 
abstract  knowledge  into  the  head  means  little. 
[16] 


Industrial  Education 

We  want  more  than  the  mere  performance  of 
mental  gymnastics.  Our  knowledge  must  be 
harnessed  to  the  things  of  real  life.  I  would 
encourage  the  Negro  to  secure  all  the  mental 
strength,  all  the  mental  culture — whether 
gleaned  from  science,  mathematics,  history, 
language  or  literature  that  his  circumstances 
will  allow,  but  I  believe  most  earnestly  that  for 
years  to  come  the  education  of  the  people  of 
my  race  should  be  so  directed  that  the  greatest 
proportion  of  the  mental  strength  of  the  masses 
will  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  every-day 
practical  things  of  life,  upon  something  that  is 
needed  to  be  done,  and  something  which  they 
will  be  permitted  to  do  in  the  community  in 
which  they  reside.  And  just  the  same  with 
the  professional  class  which  the  race  needs  and 
must  have,  I  would  say  give  the  men  and  wo- 
men of  that  class,  too,  the  training  which  will 
best  fit  them  to  perform  in  the  most  successful 
manner  the  service  which  the  race  demands. 

I  would  not  confine  the  race  to  industrial  life, 
not  even  to  agriculture,  for  example,  although 


The  Negro  Problem 

I  believe  that  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  Ne~ 
race  is  best  off  in  the  country  districts  and 
must  and  should  continue  to  live  there,  but  I 
would  teach  the  race  that  in  industry  the  found- 
ation must  be  laid — that  the  very  best  service 
which  any  one  can  render  to  what  is  called  the  t 
higher  education  is  to  teach  the  present  gener- 
ation to  provide  a  material  or  industrial  foun- 
dation. On  such  a  foundation  as  this  will  grow 
habits  of  thrift,  a  love  of  work,  economy,  own- 
ership of  property,  bank  accounts.  Out  of  it 
in  the  future  will  grow  practical  education, 
professional  education,  positions  of  public  re- 
sponsibility. Out  of  it  will  grow  moral  and 
religious  strength.  Out  of  it  will  grow  wealth 
from  which  alone  can  come  leisure  and  the  op- 
portunity for  the  enjoyment  of  literature  and 
the  fine  arts. 

In  the  words  of  the  late  beloved  Frederick 
Douglass :  "Every  blow  of  the  sledge  hammer 
wielded  by  a  sable  arm  is  a  powerful  blow  'in 
support  of  our  cause.  Every  colored  mechan- 
ic is  by  virtue  of  circumstances  an  elevator  of 
[18] 


Industrial  Education 

his  race.  Every  house  built  by  a  black  man  is 
a  strong  tower  against  the  allied  hosts  of  pre- 
judice. It  is  impossible  for  us  to  attach  too 
much  importance  to  this  aspect  of  the  subject. 
)Vithout  industrial  development  there  can  be 
no  wealth ;  without  wealth  there  can  be  no  leis- 
ure; without  leisure  no  opportunity  for 
thoughtful  reflection  and  the  cultivation  of  the 
higher  arts." 

I  would  set  no  limits  to  the  attainments  of 
the  Negro  in  arts,  in  letters  or  statesmanship, 
"but  I  believe  the  surest  way  to  reach  those  ends 
is  by  laying  the  foundation  in  the  little  things 
•of  life  that  lie  immediately  about  one's  door. 
I  plead  for  industrial  education  and  develop- 
ment for  the  Negro  not  because  I  want  to 
•cramp  him,  but  because  I  want  to  free  him.  I 
want  to  see  him  enter  the  all-powerful  business 
and  commercial  world. 

It  was  such  combined  mental,  moral  and  in- 
dustrial^ education  which  the  late  General  Arm- 
strong set  out  to  give  at  the  Hampton  Institute 
when  he  established  that  school  thirty  years 

[19] 


The  Negro  Problem 

ago.  The  Hampton  Institute  has  continued 
along  the  lines  laid  down  by  its  great  founder, 
and  now  each  year  an  increasing  number  of 
similar  schools  are  being  established  in  the 
South,  for  the  people  of  both  races. 

Early  in  the  history  of  the  Tuskegee  Insti- 
tute we  began  to  combine  industrial  training 
with  mental  and  moral  culture.  Our  first  ef- 
forts were  in  the  direction  of  agriculture,  and 
we  began  teaching  this  with  no  appliances  ex- 
cept one  hoe  and  a  blind  mule.  From  this 
small  beginning  we  have  grown  until  now  the 
Institute  owns  two  thousand  acres  of  land, 
eight  hundred  of  which  are  cultivated  each  year 
by  the  young  men  of  the  school.  We  began 
teaching  wheelwrighting  and  blacksmithing  in 
a  small  way  to  the  men,  and  laundry  work, 
cooking  and  sewing  and  housekeeping  to  the 
young  women.  The  fourteen  hundred  and  over 
young  men  and  women  who  attended  the  school 
during  the  last  school  year  received  instruction 
— in  addition  to  academic  and  religious  training 
— in  thirty-three  trades  and  industries,  includ- 

[20] 


Industrial  Education 

ing  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  printing,  wheel- 
wrighting,  harnessmaking,  painting,  machin- 
ery, founding,  shoemaking,  brickmasonry  and 
brickmaking,  plastering,  sawmilling,  tinsmith- 
ing,  tailoring,  mechanical  and  architectural 
drawing,  electrical  and  steam  engineering, 
canning,  sewing,  dressmaking,  millinery,  cook- 
ing, laundering,  housekeeping,  mattress  mak- 
ing, basketry,  nursing,  agriculture,  dairying 
and  stock  raising,  horticulture. 

Not  only  do  the  students  receive  instruction 
in  these  trades,  but  they  do  actual  work,  by 
means  of  which  more  than  half  of  them  pay 
some  part  or  all  of  their  expenses  while  re- 
maining at  the  school.  Of  the  sixty  buildings 
belonging  to  the  school  all  but  four  were  al- 
most wholly  erected  by  the  students  as  a  part 
of  their  industrial  education.  Even  the  bricks 
which  go  into  the  walls  are  made  by  students 
in  the  school's  brick  yard,  in  which,  last  year, 
they  manufactured  two  million  bricks. 

When  we  first  began  this  work  at  Tuskegee, 
and  the  idea  got  spread  among  the  people  of 
[21] 


The  Negro  Problem 

my  race  that  the  students  who  came  to  the  Tus- 
kegee  school  were  to  be  taught  industries  in 
connection  with  their  academic  studies,  were, 
in  other  words,  to  be  taught  to  work,  I  received 
a  great  many  verbal  messages  and  letters  from 
parents  informing  me  that  they  wanted  their 
children  taught  books,  but  not  how  to  work. 
This  protest  went  on  for  three  or  four  years, 
but  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say  now  that  our 
people  have  very  generally  been  educated  to  a 
point  where  they  see  their  own  needs  and  con- 
ditions so  clear ly  that  it  has  been  several  years 
since  we  have  had  a  single  protest  from  par- 
ents against  the  teaching  of  industries,  and 
there  is  now  a  positive  enthusiasm  for  it.  In 
fact,  public  sentiment  among  the  students  at 
Tuskegee  is  now  so  strong  for  industrial  train- 
ing that  it  would  hardly  permit  a  student  to  re- 
main on  the  grounds  who  was  unwilling  to 
labor. 

It  seems  to  me  that  too  often  mere  book  ed- 
ucation leaves  the  Negro  young  man  or  wo- 
man in  a  weak  position.  For  example,  I  have 

[22] 


Industrial  Education 

seen  a  Negro  girl  taught  by  her  mother  to  help 
her  in  doing  laundry  work  at  home.  Later, 
when  this  same  girl  was  graduated  from  the 
public  schools  or  a  high  school  and  returned 
home  she  finds  herself  educated  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  laundry  work,  and  yet  not  able  to 
find  anything  to  do  which  seems  in  keeping 
with  the  cost  and  character  of  her  education. 
Under  these  circumstances  we  cannot  be  sur- 
prised if  she  does  not  fulfill  the  expectations 
made  for  her.  What  should  have  been  done 
for  her,  it  seems  to  me,  was  to  give  her  along 
with  her  academic  education  thorough  train- 
ing in  the  latest  and  best  methods  of  laundry 
work,  so  that  she  could  have  put  so  much  skill 
and  intelligence  into  it  that  the  work  would 
have  been  lifted  out  from  the  plane  of  drudg- 
gery.  The  home  which  she  would  then  have 
been  able  to  found  by  the  results  of  her  work 
would  have  enabled  her  to  help  her  children  to 
take  a  still  more  responsible  position  in  life. 

Almost  from  the  first  Tuskegee  has  kept  in 
mind — and  this  I  think  should  be  the  policy  of 

[23] 


The  Negro  Problem 

all  industrial  schools — fitting  students  for  oc- 
cupations which  would  be  open  to  them  in  their 
home  communities.  Some  years  ago  we 
noted  the  fact  that  there  was  beginning  to  be  a 
demand  in  the  South  for  men  to  operate  dair- 
ies in  a  skillful,  modern  manner.  We  opened 
a  dairy  department  in  connection  with  the 
school,  where  a  number  of  young  men  could 
have  instruction  in  the  latest  and  most  scien- 
tific methods  of  dairy  work.  At  present  we 
have  calls — mainly  from  Southern  white  men 
— for  twice  as  many  dairymen  as  we  are  able 
to  supply.  What  is  equally  satisfactory,  the 
reports  which  come  to  us  indicate  that  our 
young  men  are  giving  the  highest  satisfaction 
and  are  fast  changing  and  improving  the  dairy 
product  in  the  communities  into  which  they  go. 
I  use  the  dairy  here  as  an  example.  What  I 
have  said  of  this  is  equally  true  of  many  of  the 
other  industries  which  we  teach.  |  Aside  from 
the  economic  value  of  this  work  I  cannot  but 
believe,  and  my  observation  confirms  me  in  my 
belief,  that  as  we  continue  to  place  Negro  men 

[24] 


Industrial  Education 

and  women  of  intelligence,  religion,  modesty, 
conscience  and  skill  in  every  community  in  the 
South,  who  will  prove  by  actual  results  their 
value  to  the  community,  I  cannot  but  believe, 
I  say,  that  this  will  constitute  a  solution  to 
many  of  the  present  political  and  social  diffi- 
culties, f 

Many  seem  to  think  that  industrial  education 
is  meant  to  make  the  Negro  work  as  he  work- 
ed in  the  days  of  slavery.  This  is  far  from 
my  conception  of  industrial  education.  If  this 
training  is  worth  anything  to  the  Negro,  it  con- 
sists in  teaching  him  how  not  to  work,  but  how 
to  make  the  forces  of  nature — air,  steam,  wa- 
ter, horse-power  and  electricity — work  for  him. 
If  it  has  any  value  it  is  in  lifting  labor  up  out 
of  toil  and  drudgery  into  the  plane  of  the  dig- 
nified and  the  beautiful.  The  Negro  in  the 
South  works  and  works  hard ;  but  too  often  his 
ignorance  and  lack  of  skill  causes  him  to  do  his 
work  in  the  most  costly  and  shiftless  manner, 
and  this  keeps  him  near  the  bottom  of  the  lad- 
der in  the  economic  world. 

[25] 


The  Negro  Problem 

I  have  not  emphasized  particularly  in  these 
pages  the  great  need  of  training  the  Negro  in 
agriculture,  but  I  believe  that  this  branch  of  in- 
dustrial education  does  need  very  great  em- 
phasis. In  this  connection  I  want  to  quote 
some  words  which  Mr.  Edgar  Gardner 
Murphy,  of  Montgomery,  Alabama,  has  re- 
cently written  upon  this  subject: 

"We  must  incorporate  into  our  public  school 
system  a  larger  recognition  of  the  practical  and 
industrial  elements  in  educational  training. 
Ours  is  an  agricultural  population.  The  school 
must  be  brought  more  closely  to  the  soil.  The 
teaching  of  history,  for  example,  is  all  very 
well,  but  nobody  can  really  know  anything  of 
history  unless  he  has  been  taught  to  see  things 
grow — has  so  seen  things  not  only  with  the 
outward  eye,  but  with  the  eyes  of  his  intelli- 
gence and  conscience.  The  actual  things  of 
the  present  are  more  important,  however,  than 
the  institutions  of  the  past.  Even  to  young 
children  can  be  shown  the  simpler  conditions 
and  processes  of  growth — how  corn  is  put  into* 

[26] 


Industrial  Education 

the  ground — how  cotton  and  potatoes  should 
be  planted — how  to  choose  the  soil  best  adapt- 
ed to  a  particular  plant,  how  to  improve  that 
soil,  how  to  care  for  the  plant  while  it  grows, 
how  to  get  the  most  value  out  of  it,  how  to  use 
the  elements  of  waste  for  the  fertilization  of 
other  crops;  how,  through  the  alternation  of 
crops,  the  land  may  be  made  to  increase 
the  annual  value  of  its  products — these  things, 
upon  their  elementary  side  are  absolutely  vital 
to  the  worth  and  success  of  hundreds  of  thous- 
ands of  these  people  of  the  Negro  race,  and 
yet  our  whole  educational  system  has  practi- 
cally ignored  them. 

****** 

"Such  work  will  mean  not  only  an  education 
in  agriculture,  but  an  education  through  agri- 
culture and  education,  through  natural  sym- 
bols and  practical  forms,  which  will  educate  as 
deeply,  as  broadly  and  as  truly  as  any  other 
system  which  the  world  has  known.  Such 
changes  will  bring  far  larger  results  than  the 
mere  improvement  of  our  Negroes.  They 

[27] 


The  Negro  Problem 

will  give  us  an  agricultural  class,  a  class  of  ten- 
ants or  small  land  owners,  trained  not  away 
from  the  soil,  but  in  relation  to  the  soil  and  in 
intelligent  dependence  upon  its  resources." 

I  close,  then,  as  I  began,  by  saying  that  as  a 
slave  the  Negro  was  worked,  and  that  as  a 
freeman  he  must  learn  to  work.  There  is  still 
doubt  in  many  quarters  as  to  the  ability  of  the 
Negro  unguided,  unsupported,  to  hew  his  cfwn 
path  and  put  into  visible,  tangible,  indisputable 
form,  products  and  signs  of  civilization.  This 
doubt  cannot  be  much  affected  by  abstract  ar- 
guments, no  matter  how  delicately  and  con- 
vincingly woven  together.  Patiently,  quietly, 
doggedly,  persistently,  through  summer  and 
winter,  sunshine  and  shadow,  by  self-sacrifice, 
by  foresight,  by  honesty  and  industry,  we  must 
re-enforce  argument  with  results.  One  farm 
bought,  one  house  built,  one  home  sweetly  and 
intelligently  kept,  one  man  who  is  the  largest 
tax  payer  or  has  the  largest  bank  account,  one 
school  or  church  maintained,  one  factory  run- 
ning successfully,  one  truck  garden  profitably 

[28] 


Industrial  Education 

cultivated,  one  patient  cured  by  a  Negro  doctor, 
one  sermon  well  preached,  one  office  well  filled, 
one  life  cleanly  lived — these  will  tell  more  in 
our  favor  than  all  the  abstract  eloquence  that 
can  be  summoned  to  plead  our  cause.  Our 
pathway  must  be  up  through  the  soil,  up 
through  swamps,  up  through  forests,  up 
through  the  streams,  the  rocks,  up  through 
commerce,  education  and  religion! 


[29] 


The  Talented  Tenth 


By  PROF.  W.  E.  BURGHARDT  DuBois 

A  strong  plea  for  the  higher  education  of  the  Negro, 
which  those  who  are  interested  in  the  future  of  the  freed- 
men  cannot  afford  to  ignore.  Prof.  DuBois  produces 
ample  evidence  to  prove  conclusively  the  truth  of  his  state- 
ment that  "  to  attempt  to  establish  any  sort  of  a  system  of 
common  and  industrial  school  training,  without  first  pro- 
viding for  the  higher  training  of  the  very  best  teachers,  is 
simply  throwing  your  money  to  the  winds." 


W.   E.   BURGHARDT  DuBOIS. 


THE  TALENTED  TENTH 

The  Negro  race,  like  all  races,  is  going  to  be 
saved  by  its  exceptional  men.  The  problem  of 
education,  then,  among  Negroes  mug^rst  of 
all  deal  with  the  Talented  Tenth ;  it  is  the  prob- 
lem of  developing  the  Best  of  this  race  that 
they  may  guide  the  Mass  away  from  the  con- 
tamination and  death  of  the  Worst,  in  their 
own  and  other  races.  Now  the  training  of 
men  is  a  difficult  and  intricate  task.  Its  tech- 
nique is  a  matter  for  educational  experts,  but 
its  object  is  for  the  vision  of  seers.  If  we 
make  money  the  object  of  man-training,  we 
shall  develop  money-makers  but  not  necessarily 
men;  if  we  make  technical  skill  the  object  of 
education,  we  may  possess  artisans  but  not,  in 
nature,  men.  Men  we  shall  have  only  as  we 
make  manhood  the  object  of  the  work  of  the 
schools — intelligence,  broad  sympathy,  knowl- 

[33] 


The  Negro  Problem 

edge  of  the  world  that  was  and  is,  and  of  the 
relation  of  men  to  it — this  is  the  curriculum 
of  that  Higher  Education  which  must  under- 
lie true  life.  On  this  foundation  we  may  build 
bread  winning,  skill  of  hand  and  quickness  of 
brain,  with  never  a  fear  lest  the  child  and  man 
mistake  the  means  of  living  for  the  object  of 
life. 


If  this  be  true — and  who  can  deny  it — three 
tasks  lay  before  me ;  first  to  show  from  the  past 
that  the  Talented  Tenth  as  they  have  risen 
among  American  Negroes  have  been  worthy 
of  leadership;  secondly,  to  show  how  these 
men  may  be  educated  and  developed;  and 
thirdly,  to  show  their  relation  to  the  Negro 
problem. 


You  misjudge  us  because  you  do  not  know 
us.  From  the  very  first  it  has  been*the  edu- 
cated and  intelligent  of  the  Negro  people  that 
have  led  and  elevated  the  mass,  and  the  sole 
obstacles  that  nullified  and  retarded  their  ef- 
forts were  slavery  and  race  prejudice;  for  what 

[34] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

is  slavery  but  the  legalized  survival  of  the  un- 
fit and  the  nullification  of  the  work  of  natural 
internal  leadership?  Negro  leadership,  there- 
fore, sought  from  the  first  to  rid  the  race  of 
this  awful  incubus  that  it  might  make  way  for 
natural  selection  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 
In  colonial  days  came  Phillis  Wheatley  and 
Paul  Cuffe  striving  against  the  bars  of  preju- 
dice; and  Benjamin  Banneker,  the  almanac 
maker,  voiced  their  longings  when  he  said  to 
Thomas  Jefferson,  "I  freely  and  cheerfully  ac- 
knowledge that  I  am  of  the  African  race,  and 
in  colour  which  is  natural  to  them,  of  the  deep- 
est dye;  and  it  is  under  a  sense  of  the  most 
profound  gratitude  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of 
the  Universe,  that  I  now  confess  to  you  that 
I  am  not  under  that  state  of  tyrannical  thral- 
dom and  inhuman  captivity  to  which  too  many 
of  my  brethren  are  doomed,  but  that  I  have 
abundantly  tasted  of  the  fruition  of  those 
blessings  which  proceed  from  that  free  and  un- 
equalled liberty  with  which  you  are  favored, 
and  which  I  hope  you  will  willingly  allow,  you- 
have  mercifully  received  from  the  immediate 

[35] 


The  Negro  Problem 

hand  of  that  Being  from  whom  proceedeth 
every  good  and  perfect  gift. 

"Suffer  me  to  recall  to  your  mind  that  time, 
in  which  the  arms  of  the  British  crown  were 
exerted  with  every  powerful  effort,  in  order  to 
reduce  you  to  a  state  of  servitude;  look  back, 
I  entreat  you,  on  the  variety  of  dangers  to 
which  you  were  exposed;  reflect  on  that  per- 
iod in  which  every  human  aid  appeared  un- 
available, and  in  which  even  hope  and  forti- 
tude wore  the  aspect  of  inability  to  the  conflict, 
and  you  cannot  but  be  led  to  a  serious  and 
grateful  sense  of  your  miraculous  and  provi- 
dential preservation,  you  cannot  but  acknowl- 
edge, that  the  present  freedom  and  tranquility 
which  you  enjoy,  you  have  mercifully  re- 
ceived, and  that  a  peculiar  blessing  of  heaven. 

"This,  sir,  was  a  time  when  you  clearly  saw 
into  the  injustice  of  a  state  of  Slavery,  and  in 
which  you  had  just  apprehensions  of  the  hor- 
rors of  its  condition.  It  was  then  that  your 
abhorrence  thereof  was  so  excited,  that  you 
publicly  held  forth  this  true  and  invaluable  doc- 
trine, which  is  worthy  to  be  recorded  and  re- 

[36] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

membered  in  all  succeeding  ages:  'We  hold 
these  truths  to  be  self  evident,  that  all  men  are 
created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  with  cer- 
tain inalienable  rights,  and  that  among  these 
are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.' ' 

Then  came  Dr.  James  Derham,  who  could 
tell  even  the  learned  Dr.  Rush  something  of 
medicine,  and  Lemuel  Haynes,  to  whom  Mid- 
dlebury  College  gave  an  honorary  A.  M.  in 
1804.  These  and  others  we  may  call  the  Re- 
volutionary group  of  distinguished  Negroes — 
they  were  persons  of  marked  ability,  leaders  of 
a  Talented  Tenth,  standing  conspicuously 
among  the  best  of  their  time.  They  strove  by 
word  and  deed  to  save  the  color  line  from  be- 
coming the  line  between  the  bond  and  free, 
but  all  they  could  do  was  nullified  by  Eli  Whit- 
ney and  the  Curse  of  Gold.  So  they  passed 
into  forgetfulness. 

But  their  spirit  did  not  wholly  die ;  here  and 
there  in  the  early  part  of  the  century  came 
other  exceptional  men.  Some  were  natural 
-sons  of  unnatural  fathers  and  were  given  often 

[37] 


The  Negro  Problem 

a  liberal  training  and  thus  a  race  of  educated 
mulattoes  sprang  up  to  plead  for  black  men's 
rights.  There  was  Ira  Aldridge,  whom  all 
Europe  loved  to  honor;  there  was  that  Voice 
crying  in  the  Wilderness,  David  Walker,  and 
saying : 

"I  declare  it  does  appear  to  me  as  though 
some  nations  think  God  is  asleep,  or  that  he 
made  the  Africans  for  nothing  else  but  to  dig 
their  mines  and  work  their  farms,  or  they  can- 
not believe  history,  sacred  or  profane.  I  ask 
every  man  who  has  a  heart,  and  is  blessed  with 
the  privilege  of  believing — Is  not  God  a  God 
of  justice  to  all  his  creatures?  Do  you  say  he 
is?  Then  if  he  gives  peace  and  tranquility  to 
tyrants  and  permits  them  to  keep  our  fathers, 
our  mothers,  ourselves  and  our  children  in 
eternal  ignorance  and  wretchedness  to  support 
them  and  their  families,  would  he  be  to  us  a 
God  of  Justice  ?  I  ask,  O,  ye  Christians,  who 
hold  us  and  our  children  in  the  most  abject  ig- 
norance and  degradation  that  ever  a  people 
were  afflicted  with  since  the  world  began — I 

[38] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

say  if  God  gives  you  peace  and  tranquility,  and 
suffers  you  thus  to  go  on  afflicting  us,  and  our 
children,  who  have  never  given  you  the  least 
provocation — would  He  be  to  us  a  God  of  Jus- 
tice? If  you  will  allow  that  we  are  men,  who 
feel  for  each  other,  does  not  the  blood  of  our 
fathers  and  of  us,  their  children,  cry  aloud  to 
the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  against  you  for  the  cruel- 
ties and  murders  with  which  you  have  and  do 
continue  to  afflict  us?" 

This  was  the  wild  voice  that  first  aroused 
Southern  legislators  in  1829  to  the  terrors  of 
abolitionism. 

In  1831  there  met  that  first  Negro  conven- 
tion in  Philadelphia,  at  which  the  world  gaped 
curiously  but  which  bravely  attacked  the  prob- 
lems of  race  and  slavery,  crying  out  against 
persecution  and  declaring  that  "Laws  as  cruel 
in  themselves  as  they  were  unconstitutional 
and  unjust,  have  in  many  places  been  enacted 
against  our  poor,  unfriended  and  unoffending 
brethren  (without  a  shadow  of  provocation 
on  our  part),  at  whose  bare  recital  the  very 

[39] 


The  Negro  Problem 

savage  draws  himself  up  for  fear  of  contagion 
— looks  noble  and  prides  himself  because  he 
bears  not  the  name  of  Christian."  Side  by  side 
this  free  Negro  movement,  and  the  movement 
for  abolition,  strove  until  they  merged  into 
one  strong  stream.  Too  little  notice  has  been 
taken  of  the  work  which  the  Talented  Tenth 
among  Negroes  took  in  the  great  abolition 
crusade.  From  the  very  day  that  a  Philadel- 
phia colored  man  became  the  first  subscriber  to 
Garrison's  "Liberator,"  to  the  day  when  Negro 
soldiers  made  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 
possible,  black  leaders  worked  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  white  men  in  a  movement,  the 
success  of  which  would  have  been  impossible 
without  them.  There  was  Purvis  and  Re- 
mond,  Pennington  and  Highland  Garnett,  So- 
journer  Truth  and  Alexander  Crummel,  and 
above  all,  Frederick  Douglass — what  would 
the  abolition  movement  have  been  without 
them?  They  stood  as  living  examples  of  the 
possibilities  of  the  Negro  race,  their  own  hard 
experiences  and  well  wrought  culture  said  si- 

[40] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

lently  more  than  all  the  drawn  periods  of  ora- 
tors— they  were  the  men  who  made  American 
slavery  impossible.  As  Maria  Weston  Chap- 
man once  said,  from  the  school  of  anti-slavery 
agitation  "a  throng  of  authors,  editors,  law- 
yers, orators  and  accomplished  gentlemen  of 
color  have  taken  their  degree!  It  has  equally 
implanted  hopes  and  aspirations,  noble 
thoughts,  and  sublime  purposes,  in  the  hearts 
of  both  races.  It  has  prepared  the  white  man 
for  the  freedom  of  the  black  man,  and  it  has 
made  the  black  man  scorn  the  thought  of  en- 
slavement, as  does  a  white  man,  as  far  as  its 
influence  has  extended.  Strengthen  that  noble 
influence!  Before  its  organization,  the  coun- 
try only  saw  here  and  there  in  slavery  some 
faithful  Cudjoe  or  Dinah,  whose  strong  na- 
tures blossomed  even  in  bondage,  like  a  fine 
plant  beneath  a  heavy  stone.  Now,  under  the 
elevating  and  cherishing  influence  of  the 
American  Anti-slavery  Society,  the  colored 
race,  like  the  white,  furnishes  Corinthian  cap- 
itals for  the  noblest  temples." 

[41] 


The  Negro  Problem 

Where  were  these  black  abolitionists  train- 
ed? Some,  like  Frederick  Douglass,  were 
self-trained,  but  yet  trained  liberally;  others, 
like  Alexander  Crummell  and  McCune  Smith, 
graduated  from  famous  foreign  universities. 
Most  of  them  rose  up  through  the  colored 
schools  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  and 
Boston,  taught  by  college-bred  men  like  Russ- 
worm,  of  Dartmouth,  and  college-bred  white 
men  like  Neau  and  Benezet. 

After  emancipation  came  a  new  group  of 
educated  and  gifted  leaders:  Langston,  Bruce 
and  Elliot,  Greener,  Williams  and  Payne. 
Through  political  organization,  historical  and 
polemic  writing  and  moral  regeneration,  these 
men  strove  to  uplift  their  people.  It  is  the 
fashion  of  to-day  to  sneer  at  them  and  to  say 
that  with  freedom  Negro  leadership  should 
have  begun  at  the  plow  and  not  in  the  Senate 
— a  foolish  and  mischievous  lie;  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  that  black  serf  toiled  at  the 
plow  and  yet  that  toiling  was  in  vain  till  the 
Senate  passed  the  war  amendments;  and  two 
[42] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

hundred  and  fifty  years  more  the  half-free  serf 
of  to-day  may  toil  at  his  plow,  but  unless  he 
have  political  rights  and  righteously  guarded 
civic  status,  he  will  still  remain  the  poverty- 
stricken  and  ignorant  plaything  of  rascals, 
that  he  now  is.  This  all  sane  men  know  even 
if  they  dare  not  say  it. 

And  so  we  come  to  the  present — a  day  of 
cowardice  and  vacillation,  of  strident  wide- 
voiced  wrong  and  faint  hearted  compromise; 
of  double-faced  dallying  with  Truth  and 
Right.  Who  are  to-day  guiding  the  work  of 
the  Negro  people?  The  "exceptions"  of 
course.  And  yet  so  sure  as  this  Talented 
Tenth  is  pointed  out,  the  blind  worshippers  of 
the  Average  cry  out  in  alarm :  "These  are  ex- 
ceptions, look  here  at  death,  disease  and  crime 
— these  are  the  happy  rule."  Of  course  they 
are  the  rule,  because  a  silly  nation  made  them 
the  rule :  Because  for  three  long  centuries  this 
people  lynched  Negroes  who  dared  to  be  brave, 
raped  black  women  who  dared  to  be  virtuous, 
crushed  dark-hued  youth  who  dared  to  be  am- 

[43] 


The  Negro  Problem 

bitious,  and  encouraged  and  made  to  flourish 
servility  and  lewdness  and  apathy.  But  not 
even  this  was  able  to  crush  all  manhood  and 
chastity  and  aspiration  from  black  folk.  A 
saving  remnant  continually  survives  and  per- 
sists, continually  aspires,  continually  shows 
itself  in  thrift  and  ability  and  character.  Ex- 
ceptional it  is  to  be  sure,  but  this  is  its  chiefest 
promise;  it  shows  the  capability  of  Negro 
blood,  the  promise  of  black  men.  Do  Amer- 
icans ever  stop  to  reflect  that  there  are  in  this 
land  a  million  men  of  Negro  blood,  well-edu- 
cated, owners  of  homes,  against  the  honor  of 
whose  womanhood  no  breath  was  ever  raised, 
whose  men  occupy  positions  of  trust  and  use- 
fulness, and  who,  judged  by  any  standard, 
have  reached  the  full  measure  of  the  best  type 
of  modern  European  culture?  Is  it  fair,  is  it 
decent,  is  it  Christian  to  ignore  these  facts  of 
the  Negro  problem,  to  belittle  such  aspiration, 
to  nullify  such  leadership  and  seek  to  crush 
these  people  back  into  the  mass  out  of  which 
by  toil  and  travail,  they  and  their  fathers  have 
raised  themselves? 

[44] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

Can  the  masses  of  the  Negro  people  be  in 
any  possible  way  more  quickly  raised  than  by 
the  effort  and  example  of  this  aristocracy  of 
talent  and  character?  Was  there  ever  a  na- 
tion on  God's  fair  earth  civilized  from  the  bot- 
tom upward?  Never;  it  is,  ever  was  and  ever 
will  be  from  the  top  downward  that  culture 
filters.  The  Talented  Tenth  rises  and  pulls  all 
that  are  worth  the  saving  up  to  their  vantage 
ground.  This  is  the  history  of  human  pro- 
gress; and  the  two  historic  mistakes  which 
have  hindered  that  progress  were  the  thinking 
first  that  no  more  could  ever  rise  save  the  few 
already  risen;  or  second,  that  it  would  better 
the  unrisen  to  pull  the  risen  down. 

How  then  shall  the  leaders  of  a  struggling 
people  be  trained  and  the  hands  of  the  risen 
few  strengthened?  There  can  be  but  one  an- 
swer :  The  best  and  most  capable  of  their  youth 
must  be  schooled  in  the  colleges  and  universi- 
ties of  the  land.  We  will  not  quarrel  as  to 
just  what  the  university  of  the  Negro  should 
[45] 


The  Negro  Problem 

teach  or  how  it  should  teach  it — I  willingly  ad- 
mit that  each  soul  and  each  race-soul  needs  its 
own  peculiar  curriculum.  But  this  is  true: 
A  university  is  a  human  invention  for  the 
transmission  of  knowledge  and  culture  from 
generation  to  generation,  through  the  training 
of  quick  minds  and  pure  hearts,  and  for  this 
work  no  other  human  invention  will  suffice, 
not  even  trade  and  industrial  schools. 

All  men  cannot  go  to  college  but  some  men 
must;  every  isolated  group  or  nation  must 
have  its  yeast,  must  have  for  the  talented  few 
centers  of  training  where  men  are  not  so  mys- 
tified and  befuddled  by  the  hard  and  necessary 
toil  of  earning  a  living,  as  to  have  no  aims 
higher  than  their  bellies,  and  no  God 
greater  than  Gold.  This  is  true  training, 
and  thus  in  the  beginning  were  the  favored 
sons  of  the  freedmen  trained.  Out  of 
the  colleges  of  the  North  came,  after  the  blood 
of  war,  Ware,  Cravath,  Chase,  Andrews,  Bum- 
stead  and  Spence  to  build  the  foundations  of 
knowledge  and  civilization  in  the  black  South. 

[46] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

Where  ought  they  to  have  begun  to  build  ?  At 
the  bottom,  of  course,  quibbles  the  mole  with 
his  eyes  in  the  earth.  Aye!  truly  at  the  bot- 
tom, at  the  very  bottom;  at  the  bottom  of 
knowledge,  down  in  the  very  depths  of  knowl- 
edge there  where  the  roots  of  justice  strike 
into  the  lowest  soil  of  Truth.  And  so  they 
did  begin;  they  founded  colleges,  and  up  from 
the  colleges  shot  normal  schools,  and  out  from 
the  normal  schools  went  teachers,  and  around 
the  normal  teachers  clustered  other  teachers 
to  teach  the  public  schools;  the  college  trained 
in  Greek  and  Latin  and  mathematics,  2,000 
men;  and  these  men  trained  full  50,000  others 
in  morals  and  manners,  and  they  in  turn 
taught  thrift  and  the  alphabet  to  nine  millions 
of  men,  who  to-day  hold  $300,000,000  of 
property.  It  was  a  miracle — the  most  won- 
derful peace-battle  of  the  I9th  century,  and 
yet  to-day  men  smile  at  it,  and  in  fine  super- 
iority tell  us  that  it  was  all  a  strange  mistake; 
that  a  proper  way  to  found  a  system  of  edu- 
cation is  first  to  gather  the  children  and  buy 

[47] 


The  Negro  Problem 

them  spelling  books  and  hoes;  afterward  men 
may  look  about  for  teachers,  if  haply  they  may 
find  them;  or  again  they  would  teach  men 
Work,  but  as  for  Life — why,  what  has  Work 
to  do  with  Life,  they  ask  vacantly. 

Was  the  work  of  these  college  founders  suc- 
cessful ;  did  it  stand  the  test  of  time  ?  Did  the 
college  graduates,  with  all  their  fine  theories 
of  life,  really  live?  Are  they  useful  men  help- 
ing to  civilize  and  elevate  their  less  fortunate 
fellows?  Let  us  see.  Omitting  all  institu- 
tions which  have  not  actually  graduated  stud- 
ents from  a  college  course,  there  are  to-day  in 
the  United  States  thirty-four  institutions  giv- 
ing something  above  high  school  training  to 
Negroes  and  designed  especially  for  this  race. 

Three  of  these  were  established  in  border 
States  before  the  War;  thirteen  were  planted 
by  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  the  years  1864- 
1869;  nine  were  established  between  1870  and 
1880  by  various  church  bodies;  five  were  es- 
tablished after  1881  by  Negro  churches,  and. 
four  are  state  institutions  supported  by  United 
[48] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

States'  agricultural  funds.  In  most  cases  the 
college  departments  are  small  adjuncts  to  high 
and  common  school  work.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  six  institutions — Atlanta,  Fisk,  Howard, 
Shaw,  Wilberforce  and  Leland,  are  the  im- 
portant Negro  colleges  so  far  as  actual  work 
and  number  of  students  are  concerned.  In  all 
these  institutions,  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
Negro  college  students  are  enrolled.  In  grade 
the  best  of  these  colleges  are  about  a  year  be- 
hind the  smaller  New  England  colleges  and  a 
typical  curriculum  is  that  of  Atlanta  Univer- 
sity. Here  students  from  the  grammar  grades, 
after  a  three  years'  high  school  course,  take  a 
college  course  of  136  weeks.  One-fourth  of 
this  time  is  given  to  Latin  and  Greek;  one- 
fifth,  to  English  and  modern  languages;  one- 
sixth,  to  history  and  social  science;  one- 
seventh,  to  natural  science ;  one-eighth  to  math- 
ematics, and  one-eighth  to  philosophy  and 
pedagogy. 

In  addition  to  these  students  in  the  South, 
Negroes  have  attended  Northern  colleges  for 

[49] 


The  Negro  Problem 


many  years.  As  early  as  1826  one  was  grad- 
uated from  Bowdoin  College,  and  from  that 
time  till  to-day  nearly  every  year  has  seen  else- 
where, other  such  graduates.  They  have,  of 
course,  met  much  color  prejudice.  Fifty 
years  ago  very  few  colleges  would  admit  them 
at  all.  Even  to-day  no  Negro  has  ever  been 
admitted  to  Princeton,  and  at  some  other  lead- 
ing institutions  they  are  rather  endured  than 
encouraged.  Oberlin  was  the  great  pioneer  in 
the  work  of  blotting  out  the  color  line  in  col- 
leges, and  has  more  Negro  graduates  by  far 
than  any  other  Northern  college. 

The  total  number  of  Negro  college  grad- 
uates up  to  1899,  (several  of  the  graduates -of 
that  year  not  being  reported),  was  as  follows: 


Negro  Colleges. 

White  Colleges.. 

Before  '76 

..    137  

75  

'75-80  . 

143  

22  

'80-85.... 
'85-90.... 
'90-95 

250  
413  
465 

31  
43  
66  

'95-99.... 
Class  Unknown  .  . 

475  
57  

88  
64  

Total  

1,914  

390  

[50] 

The  Talented  Tenth 

Of  these  graduates  2,079  were  men  and  252 
were  women;  50  per  cent,  of  Northern-born 
college  men  come  South  to  work  among  the 
masses  of  their  people,  at  a  sacrifice  which  few 
people  realize ;  nearly  90  per  cent,  of  the  South- 
ern-born graduates  instead  of  seeking  that  per- 
sonal freedom  and  broader  intellectual  atmos- 
phere which  their  training  has  led  them,  in 
some  degree,  to  conceive,  stay  and  labor  and 
wait  in  the  midst  of  their  black  neighbors  and 
relatives. 

The  most  interesting  question,  and  in  many 
respects  the  crucial  question,  to  be  asked  con- 
cerning college-bred  Negroes,  is :  Do  they  earn 
a  living?  It  has  been  intimated  more  than 
once  that  the  higher  training  of  Negroes  has 
resulted  in  sending  into  the  world  of  work, 
men  who  could  find  nothing  to  do  suitable  to 
their  talents.  Now  and  then  there  comes  a 
rumor  of  a  colored  college  man  working  at 
menial  service,  etc.  Fortunately,  returns  as  to 
occupations  of  college-bred  Negroes,  gathered 
by  the  Atlanta  conference,  are  quite  full — 


The  Negro  Problem 


nearly  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of 
graduates. 

This  enables  us  to  reach  fairly  certain  con- 
clusions as  to  the  occupations  of  all  college- 
bred  Negroes.  Of  1,312  persons  reported, 
there  were: 


Per  Cent. 

Teachers,  
Clergymen,  
Physicians,  etc.,  
Students,  
Lawyers,  

....53.4.. 
....16.8.. 
....  6.3.. 
....  5.6.. 
....  4.7.. 

F 

In  Govt.  Service,  

4.0.  . 

m 

In  Business,  

....  3.6.. 

• 

Farmers  and  Artisans,.  . 
Editors,  Secretaries  and 
Clerks,  
Miscellaneous  

....  2.7.. 

....  2.4.. 
5.. 

• 

1 

i 

Over  half  are  teachers,  a  sixth  are  preachers, 
another  sixth  are  students  and  professional 
men ;  over  6  per  cent,  are  farmers,  artisans  and 
merchants,  and  4  per  cent,  are  in  government 
service.  In  detail  the  occupations  are  as 
follows : 

Occupations  of  College-Bred  Men. 
Teachers : 

Presidents  and  Deans, 19 

Teacher  of  Music, 7 

Professors,  Principals  and  Teachers,  675  Total  701 

[52] 


The  Talented  Tenth 


Clergymen : 

Bishop, 1 

Chaplains  U.  S.  Army, 2 

Missionaries, 9 

Presiding  Elders, 12 

Preachers, 197  Total  221 

Physicians, 

Doctors  of  Medicine, 76 

Druggists, 4 

Dentists, 3    Total  83 

Students, 74 

Lawyers, 62 

Civil  Service : 

U.  S.  Minister  Plenipotentiary, 1 

U.  S.  Consul, 1 

U.  S.  Deputy  Collector, 1 

U.  S.  Ganger, 1 

U.  S.  Postmasters, 2 

U.  S.  Clerks, 44 

State  Civil  Service 2 

City  Civil  Service, 1    Total  53 

Business  Men  : 

Merchants,  etc., 30 

Managers,  ...   13 

Real  Estate  Dealers, 4    Total  47 

Farmers, 26 

Clerks  and  Secretaries : 

Secretary  of  National  Societies, 7 

Clerks,  etc., 15    Total  22 

Artisans, 9 

Editors, 9 

Miscellaneous, 5 

[53] 


The  Negro  Problem 

These  figures  illustrate  vividly  the  function 
of  the  college-bred  Negro.  He  is,  as  he  ought 
to  be,  the  group  leader,  the  man  who  sets  the 
ideals  of  the  community  where  he  lives,  directs^ 
its  thoughts  and  heads  its  social  movements. 
It  need  hardly  be  argued  that  the  Negro  people 
need  social  leadership  more  than  most  groups ; 
that  they  have  no  traditions  to  fall  back  upon, 
no  long  established  customs,  no  strong  family 
ties,  no  well  defined  social  classes.  All  these 
things  must  be  slowly  and  painfully  evolved. 
The  preacher  was,  even  before  the  war,  the 
group  leader  of  the  Negroes,  and  the  church 
their  greatest  social  institution.  Naturally 
this  preacher  was  ignorant  and  often  immoral, 
and  the  problem  of  replacing  the  older  type  by 
better  educated  men  has  been  a  difficult  one. 
Both  by  direct  work  and  by  direct  influence  on 
other  preachers,  and  on  congregations,  the  col- 
lege-bred preacher  has  an  opportunity  for  re- 
formatory work  and  moral  inspiration,  the 
value  of  which  cannot  be  overestimated. 

It  has,  however,  been  in  the  furnishing  of 
teachers  that  the  Negro  college  has  found  its 

[54] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

peculiar  function.  Few  persons  realize  ho\v 
vast  a  work,  how  mighty  a  revolution  has  been 
thus  accomplished.  To  furnish  five  millions 
and  more  of  ignorant  people  with  teachers  of 
their  own  race  and  blood,  in  one  generation, 
was  not  only  a  very  difficult  undertaking,  but 
a  very  important  one,  in  that,  it  placed  before 
the  eyes  of  almost  every  Negro  child  an  attain- 
able ideal.  It  brought  the  masses  of  the  blacks 
in  contact  with  modern  civilization,  made  black 
men  the  leaders  of  their  communities  and 
trainers  of  the  new  generation.  In  this  work 
college-bred  Negroes  were  first  teachers,  and 
then  teachers  of  teachers.  And  here  it  is  thar 
the  broad  culture  of  college  work  has  been  of 
peculiar  value.  Knowledge  of  life  and  its 
wider  meaning,  has  been  the  point  of  the 
Negro's  deepest  ignorance,  and  the  sending 
out  of  teachers  whose  training  has  not  been 
simply  for  bread  winning,  but  also  for  human 
culture,  has  been  of  inestimable  value  in  the 
training  of  these  men. 

In    earlier    years    the    two    occupations    of 
preacher  and  teacher  were  practically  the,  only 

[55] 


The  Negro  Problem 

ones  open  to  the  black  college  graduate.  Of 
later  years  a  larger  diversity  of  life  among  his 
people,  has  opened  new  avenues  of  employ- 
ment. Nor  have  these  college  men  been  pau- 
pers and  spendthrifts;  557  college-bred 
Negroes  owned  in  1899,  $1,342,862.50  worth 
of  real  estate,  (assessed  value)  or  $2,411  per 
family.  The  real  value  of  the  total  accumu- 
lations of  the  whole  group  is  perhaps  about 
$10,000,000,  or  $5,000  a  piece.  Pitiful,  is  it 
not,  beside  the  fortunes  of  oil  kings  and  steel 
trusts,  but  after  all  is  the  fortune  of  the  mil- 
lionaire the  only  stamp  of  true  and  successful 
living?  Alas!  it  is,  with  many,  and  there's 
the  rub. 

The  problem  of  training  the  Negro  is  to-day 
immensely  complicated  by  the  fact  that  the 
whole  question  of  the  efficiency  and  appro- 
priateness of  our  present  systems  of  education, 
for  any  kind  of  child,  is  a  matter  of  active  de- 
bate, in  which  final  settlement  seems  still  afar 
off.  Consequently  it  often  happens  that  per- 

[56] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

sons  arguing  for  or  against  certain  systems  of 
education  for  Negroes,  have  these  contro- 
versies in  mind  and  miss  the  real  question  at 
issue.  The  main  question,  so  far  as  the  South- 
ern Negro  is  concerned,  is:  What  under  the 
present  circumstance,  must  a  system  of  educa- 
tion do  in  order  to  raise  the  Negro  as  quickly 
as  possible  in  the  scale  of  civilization?  The 
answer  to  this  question  seems  to  me  clear:  It 
must  strengthen  the  Negro's  character,  increase 
his  knowledge  and  teach  him  to  earn  a  living. 
Now  it  goes  without  saying,  that  it  is  hard  to 
do  all  these  things  simultaneously  or  suddenly, 
and  that  at  the  same  time  it  will  not  do  to  give 
all  the  attention  to  one  and  neglect  the  others ; 
we  could  give  black  boys  trades,  but  that  alone 
will  not  civilize  a  race  of  ex-slaves;  we  might 
simply  increase  their  knowledge  of  the  world, 
but  this  would  not  necessarily  make  them  wish 
to  use  this  knowledge  honestly;  we  might  seek 
to  strengthen  character  and  purpose,  but  to 
what  end  if  this  people  have  nothing  to  eat  QH^^ 
to  wear?  A  system  of  education  is  not  one  / 

[57] 


The  Negro  Problem 

thing,  nor  does  it  have  a  single  definite  object, 
nor  is  it  a  mere  matter  of  schools.  Education 
is  that  whole  system  of  human  training  within 
and  without  the  school  house  walls,  which 
molds  and  develops  men.  If  then  we  start  out 
to  train  an  ignorant  and  unskilled  people  with 
a  heritage  of  bad  habits,  our  system  of  training 
must  set  before  itself  two  great  aims — the  one 
dealing  with  knowledge  and  character,  the 
other  part  seeking  to  give  the  child  the  tech- 
nical knowledge  necessary  for  him  to  earn  a 
living  under  the  present  circumstances.  These 
objects  are  accomplished  in  part  by  the  open- 
ing of  the  common  schools  on  the  one,  and  of 
the  industrial  schools  on  the  other.  But  only 
in  part,  for  there  must  also  be  trained  those 
who  are  to  teach  these  schools — men  and  wo- 
men of  knowledge  and  culture  and  technical 
skill  who  understand  modern  civilization,  and 
have  the  training  and  aptitude  to  impart  it  to 
the  children  under  them.  There  must  be 
teachers,  and  teachers  of  teachers,  and  to  at- 
tempt to  establish  any  sort  of  a  system  of  com- 

[58] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

mon  and  industrial  school  training,  without 
first  (and  I  say  first  advisedly)  without  first 
providing  for  the  higher  training  of  the  very 
best  teachers,  is  simply  throwing  your  money 
to  the  winds.  School  houses  do  not  teach 
themselves — piles  of  brick  and  mortar  and  ma- 
chinery do  not  send  out  men.  It  is  the  trained, 
living  human  soul,  cultivated  and  strengthened 
by  long  study  and  thought,  that  breathes  the 
real  breath  of  life  into  boys  and  girls  and  makes 
them  human,  whether  they  be  black  or  white, 
Greek,  Russian  or  American.  Nothing,  in 
these  latter  days,  has  so  dampened  the  faith  of 
thinking  Negroes  in  recent  educational  move- 
ments, as  the  fact  that  such  movements  have 
been  accompanied  by  ridicule  and  denounce- 
ment and  decrying  of  those  very  institutions  of 
higher  training  which  made  the  Negro  public 
school  possible,  and  make  Negro  industrial 
schools  thinkable.  It  was  Fisk,  Atlanta,  How- 
ard and  Straight,  those  colleges  born  of  the 
faith  and  sacrifice  of  the  abolitionists,  that 
placed  in  the  black  schools  of  the  South  the 

[59] 


The  Negro  Problem 

30,000  teachers  and  more,  which  some,  who 
depreciate  the  work  of  these  higher  schools, 
are  using  to  teach  their  own  new  experiments. 
If  Hampton,  Tuskegee  and  the  hundred  other 
industrial  schools  prove  in  the  future  to  be  as 
successful  as  they  deserve  to  be,  then  their  suc- 
cess in  training  black  artisans  for  the  South, 
will  be  due  primarily  to  the  white  colleges  of 
the  North  and  the  black  colleges  of  the  South, 
which  trained  the  teachers  who  to-day  conduct 
these  institutions.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  American  people  believed  pretty  devoutly 
that  a  log  of  wood  with  a  boy  at  one  end  and 
Mark  Hopkins  at  the  other,  represented  the 
highest  ideal  of  human  training.  But  in  these 
eager  days  it  would  seem  that  we  have  changed 
all  that  and  think  it  necessary  to  add  a  couple 
of  saw-mills  and  a  hammer  to  this  outfit,  and, 
at  a  pinch,  to  dispense  with  the  services  of 
Mark  Hopkins. 

I  would  not  deny,  or  for  a  moment  seem  to 
deny,  the  paramount  necessity  of  teaching  the 
Negro  to  work,  and  to  work  steadily  and  skill- 

[60] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

fully ;  or  seem  to  depreciate  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree the  important  part  industrial  schools  must 
play  in  the  accomplishment  of  these  ends,  but 
I  do  say,  and  insist  upon  it,  that  it  is  industrial- 
ism drunk  with  its  vision  of  success,  to  imagine 
that  its  own  work  can  be  accomplished  without 
providing  for  the  training  of  broadly  cultured 
men  and  women  to  teach  its  own  teachers,  and 
to  teach  the  teachers  of  the  public  schools. 

But  I  have  already  said  that  human  educa- 
tion is  not  simply  a  matter  of  schools;  it  is 
much  more  a  matter  of  family  and  group  life 
— the  training  of  one's  home,  of  one's  daily 
companions,  of  one's  social  class.  Now  the 
black  boy  of  the  South  moves  in  a  black  world 
— a  world  with  its  own  leaders,  its  own 
thoughts,  its  own  ideals.  In  this  world  he 
gets  by  far  the  larger  part  of  his  life  training, 
and  through  the  eyes  of  this  dark  world  he 
peers  into  the  veiled  world  beyond.  Who 
guides  and  determines  the  education  which  he 
receives  in  his  world?  His  teachers  here  are 
the  group-leaders  of  the  Negro  people — the 
[61] 


The  Negro  Problem 

physicians  and  clergymen,  the  trained  fathers 
and  mothers,  the  influential  and  forceful  men 
about  him  of  all  kinds ;  here  it  is,  if  at  all,  that 
the  culture  of  the  surrounding  world  trickles 
through  and  is  handed  on  by  the  graduates  of 
the  higher  schools.  Can  such  culture  training 
of  group  leaders  be  neglected  ?  Can  we  afford 
to  ignore  it  ?  Do  you  think  that  if  the  leaders 
of  thought  among  Negroes  are  not  trained  and 
educated  thinkers,  that  they  will  have  no 
leaders?  On  the  contrary  a  hundred  half- 
trained  demagogues  will  still  hold  the  places 
they  so  largely  occupy  now,  and  hundreds  of 
vociferous  busy-bodies  will  multiply.  You 
have  no  choice;  either  3^ou  must  help  furnish 
this  race  from  within  its  own  ranks  with 
thoughtful  men  of  trained  leadership,  or  you 
must  suffer  the  evil  consequences  of  a  headless 
misguided  rabble. 

Yl  am  an  earnest  advocate  of  manual  training 
and  trade  teaching  for  black  boys,  and  for 
white  boys,  too.  I  believe  that  next  to  the 
founding  of  Negro  colleges  the  most  valuable 


The  Talented  Tenth 

addition  to  Negro  education  since  the  war,  has 
been  industrial  training  for  black  boys.  Never- 
theless, I  insist  that  the  object  of  all  true  edu- 
cation is  not  to  make  men  carpenters,  it  is  to 
make  carpenters  men;  there  are  two  means  of 
making  the  carpenter  a  man,  each  equally  im- 
portant :  the  first  is  to  give  the  group  and  com- 
munity in  which  he  works,  liberally  trained 
teachers  and  leaders  to  teach  him  and  his  fam- 
ity  what  life  means;  the  second  is  to  give  him 
sufficient  intelligence  and  technical  skill  to 
make  him  an  efficient  workman;  the  first  object 
demands  the  Negro  college  and  college-bred 
men — not  a  quantity  of  such  colleges,  but  a 
few  of  excellent  quality ;  not  too  many  college- 
bred  men,  but  enough  to  leaven  the  lump,  to 
inspire  the  masses,  to  raise  the  Talented  Tenth 
to  leadership;  the  second  object  demands  a 
good  system  of  common  schools,  well-taught, 
conveniently  located  and  properly  equipped. 
The  Sixth  Atlanta  Conference  truly  said  in 
1901 : 

[63] 


The  Negro  Problem 

"We  call  the  attention  of  the  Nation  to  the 
fact  that  less  than  one  million  of  the  three  mil- 
lion Negro  children  of  school  age,  are  at  pres- 
ent regularly  attending  school,  and  these  at- 
tend a  session  which  lasts  only  a  few  months. 

"We  are  to-day  deliberately  rearing  mil- 
lions of  our  citizens  in  ignorance,  and  at  the 
same  time  limiting  the  rights  of  citizenship  by 
educational  qualifications.  This  is  unjust. 
Half  the  black  youth  of  the  land  have  no  op- 
portunities open  to  them  for  learning  to  read, 
write  and  cipher.  In  the  discussion  as  to  the 
proper  training  of  Negro  children  after  they 
leave  the  public  schools,  we  have  forgotten  that 
they  are  not  yet  decently  provided  with  public 
schools. 

''Propositions  are  beginning  to  be  made  in 
the  South  to  reduce  the  already  meagre  school 
facilities  of  Negroes.  We  congratulate  the 
South  on  resisting,  as  much  as  it  has,  this  pres- 
sure, and  on  the  many  millions  it  has  spent  on 
Negro  education.  But  it  is  only  fair  to  point 
out  that  Negro  taxes  and  the  Negroes'  share  of 
[64] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

the  income  from  indirect  taxes  and  endow- 
ments have  fully  repaid  this  expenditure,  so 
that  the  Negro  public  school  system  has  not  in 
all  probability  cost  the  white  taxpayers  a  single 
cent  since  the  war. 

"This  is  not  fair.  Negro  schools  should  be 
a  public  burden,  since  they  are  a  public  benefit. 
The  Negro  has  a  right  to  demand  good  com- 
mon school  training  at  the  hands  of  the  States 
and  the  Nation  since  by  their  fault  he  is  not  in 
position  to  pay  for  this  himself." 

What  is  the  chief  need  for  the  building  up 
of  the  Negro  public  school  in  the  South  ?  The 
Negro  race  in  the  South  needs  teachers  to-day 
above  all  else.  This  is  the  concurrent  testi- 
mony of  all  who  know  the  situation.  For  the 
supply  of  this  great  demand  two  things  are 
needed — institutions  of  higher  education  and 
money  for  school  houses  and  salaries.  It  is 
usually  assumed  that  a  hundred  or  more  insti- 
tutions for  Negro  training  are  to-day  turning 
out  so  many  teachers  and  college-bred  men  that 
the  race  is  threatened  with  an  over-supply. 

[65] 


The  Negro  Problem 

This  is  sheer  nonsense.  There  are  to-day  less 
than  3,000  living  Negro  college  graduates  in 
the  United  States,  and  less  than  1,000  Negroes 
in  college.  Moreover,  in  the  164  schools  for 
Negroes,  95  per  cent,  of  their  students  are 
doing  elementary  and  secondary  work,  work 
which  should  be  done  in  the  public  schools. 
Over  half  the  remaining  2,157  students  are 
taking  high  school  studies.  The  mass  of  so- 
called  "normal"  schools  for  the  Negro,  are 
simply  doing  elementary  common  school  work, 
or,  at  most,  high  school  work,  with  a  little  in- 
struction in  methods.  The  Negro  colleges  and 
the  post-graduate  courses  at  other  institutions 
are  the  only  agencies  for  the  broader  and  more 
careful  training  of  teachers.  The  work  of 
these  institutions  is  hampered  for  lack  of 
funds.  It  is  getting  increasingly  difficult  to 
get  funds  for  training  teachers  in  the  best  mod- 
ern methods,  and  yet  all  over  the  South,  from 
State  Superintendents,  county  officials,  city 
boards  and  school  principals  comes  the  wail, 
"We  need  TEACHERS !"  and  teachers  must 
[66] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

be  trained.  As  the  fairest  minded  of  all  white 
Southerners,  Atticus  G.  Haygood,  once  said: 
"The  defects  of  colored  teachers  are  so  great 
as  to  ^create  an  urgent  necessity  for  training 
better  ones.  Their  excellencies  and  their  suc- 
cesses are  sufficient  to  justify  the  best  hopes  of 
success  in  the  effort,  and  to  vindicate  the  judg- 
ment of  those  who  make  large  investments  of 
money  and  service,  to  give  to  colored  students 
opportunity  for  thoroughly  preparing  them- 
selves for  the  work  of  teaching  children  of 
their  people." 

The  truth  of  this  has  been  strikingly  shown 
in  the  marked  improvement  of  white  teachers 
in  the  South.  Twenty  years  ago  the  rank  and 
file  of  white  public  school  teachers  were  not  as 
good  as  the  Negro  teachers.  But  they,  by 
scholarships  and  good  salaries,  have  been  en- 
couraged to  thorough  normal  and  collegiate 
preparation,  while  the  Negro  teachers  have 
been  discouraged  by  starvation  wages  and  the 
idea  that  any  training  will  do  for  a  black 
teacher.  If  carpenters  are  needed  it  is  well 

[67] 


The  Negro  Problem 

and  good  to  train  men  as  carpenters.  But  to 
train  men  as  carpenters,  and  then  set  them  to 
teaching  is  wasteful  and  criminal;  and  to  train 
men  as  teachers  and  then  refuse  them  living 
wages,  unless  they  become  carpenters,  is  rank 
nonsense. 

The  United  States  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion says  in  his  report  for  1900 :  "For  compar- 
ison between  the  white  and  colored  enrollment 
in  secondary  and  higher  education,  I  have 
added  together  the  enrollment  in  high  schools 
and  secondary  schools,  with  the  attendance  on 
colleges  and  universities,  not  being  sure  of  the 
actual  grade  of  work  done  in  the  colleges  and 
universities.  The  work  done  in  the  secondary 
schools  is  reported  in  such  detail  in  this  office, 
that  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  grade/' 

He  then  makes  the  following  comparisons  of 
persons  in  every  million  enrolled  in  secondary 
and  higher  education : 

Whole  Country.          Negroes. 
1880  4,362  1,289 

1900  1 0,743  2,061 

[68] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

And  he  concludes :  "While  the  number  in  col- 
ored high  schools  and  colleges  had  increased 
somewhat  faster  than  the  population,  it  had 
not  kept  pace  with  the  average  of  the  whole 
country,  for  it  had  fallen  from  30  per  cent,  to 
24  per  cent,  of  the  average  quota.  Of  all  col- 
ored pupils,  one  (i)  in  one  hundred  was  en- 
gaged in  secondary  and  higher  work,  and  that 
ratio  has  continued  substantially  for  the  past 
twenty  years.  If  the  ratio  of  colored  popula- 
tion in  secondary  and  higher  education  is  to 
be  equal  to  the  average  for  the  whole  country, 
it  must  be  increased  to  five  times  its  present 
average."  And  if  this  be  true  of  the  second- 
ary and  higher  education,  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  Negro  has  not  one-tenth  his  quota  in  col- 
lege studies.  How  baseless,  therefore,  is  the 
charge  of  too  much  training !  We  need  Negro 
teachers  for  the  Negro  common  schools,  and 
we  need  first-class  normal  schools  and  col- 
leges to  train  them.  This  is  the  work  of 
higher  Negro  education  and  it  must  be  done. 

[69] 


The  Negro  Problem 

Further  than  this,  after  being  provided  with 
group  leaders  of  civilization,  and  a  foundation 
of  intelligence  in  the  public  schools,  the  car- 
penter, in  order  to  be  a  man,  needs  technical 
skill.  This  calls  for  trade  schools.  Now 
trade  schools  are  not  nearly  such  simple  things 
as  people  once  thought.  The  original  idea 
was  that  the  "Industrial"  school  was  to  furnish 
education,  practically  free,  to  those  willing  to 
work  for  it ;  it  was  to  "do"  things — i.  e. :  be- 
come a  center  of  productive  industry,  it  was 
to  be  partially,  if  not  wholly,  self-supporting, 
and  it  was  to  teach  trades.  Admirable  as  were 
some  of  the  ideas  underlying  this  scheme,  the 
whole  thing  simply  would  not  work  in  practice ; 
it  was  found  that  if  you  were  to  use  time  and 
material  to  teach  trades  thoroughly,  you  could 
not  at  the  same  time  keep  the  industries  on  a 
commercial  basis  and  make  them  pay.  Many 
schools  started  out  to  do  this  on  a  large  scale 
and  went  into  virtual  bankruptcy.  Moreover, 
it  was  found  also  that  it  was  possible  to  teach 
a  boy  a  trade  mechanically,  without  giving  him 

[70] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

the  full  educative  benefit  of  the  process,  and, 
vice  versa,  that  there  was  a  distinctive  edu- 
cative value  in  teaching  a  boy  to  use  his  hands 
and  eyes  in  carrying  out  certain  physical  pro- 
cesses, even  though  he  did  not  actually  learn  a 
trade.  It  has  happened,  therefore,  in  the  last 
decade,  that  a  noticeable  change  has  come  over 
the  industrial  schools.  In  the  first  place  the 
idea  of  commercially  remunerative  industry  in 
a  schooris  being  pushed  rapidly  to  the  back- 
ground. There  are  still  schools  with  shops 
and  farms  that  bring  an  income,  and  schools 
that  use  student  labor  partially  for  the  erection 
of  their  buildings  and  the  furnishing  of  equip- 
ment. It  is  coming  to  be  seen,  however,  in 
the  education  of  the  Negro,  as  clearly  as  it  has 
been  seen  in  the  education  of  the  youths  the 
world  over,  that  it  is  the  boy  and  not  the  ma- 
terial product,  that  is  the  true  object  of  educa- 
tion. Consequently  the  object  of  the  indus- 
trial school  came  to  be  the  thorough  training 
of  boys  regardless  of  the  cost  of  the  training, 
so  long  as  it  was  thoroughly  well  done. 


The  Negro  Problem 

Even  at  this  point,  however,  the  difficulties 
were  not  surmounted.  In  the  first  place  mod- 
ern industry  has  taken  great  strides  since  the 
war,  and  the  teaching  of  trades  is  no  longer  a 
simple  matter.  Machinery  and  long  processes 
of  work  have  greatly  changed  the  work  of  the 
carpenter,  the  ironworker  and  the  shoemaker. 
A  really  efficient  workman  must  be  to-day  an 
intelligent  man  who  has  had  good  technical 
training  in  addition  to  thorough  common 
school,  and  perhaps  even  higher  training.  To 
meet  this  situation  the  industrial  schools  began 
a  further  development ;  they  established  distinct 
Trade  Schools  for  the  thorough  training  of 
better  class  artisans,  and  at  the  same  time  they 
sought  to  preserve  for  the  purposes  of  general 
education,  such  of  the  simpler  processes  of  ele- 
mentary trade  learning  as  were  best  suited 
therefor.  In  this  differentiation  of  the  Trade 
School  and  manual  training,  the  best  of  the  in- 
dustrial schools  simply  followed  the  plain  trend 
of  the  present  educational  epoch.  A  prom- 
inent educator  tells  us  that,  in  Sweden,  "In  the 

[72] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

beginning  the  economic  conception  was  gen- 
erally adopted,  and  everywhere  manual  train- 
ing was  looked  upon  as  a  means  of  preparing 
the  children  of  the  common  people  to  earn  their 
living.  But  gradually  it  came  to  be  recog- 
nized that  manual  training  has  a  more  elevated 
purpose,  and  one,  indeed,  more  useful  in  the 
deeper  meaning  of  the  term.  It  came  to  be 
considered  as  an  educative  process  for  the  com- 
plete moral,  physical  and  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the  child." 

Thus,  again,  in  the  manning  of  trade  schools 
and  manual  training  schools   we   are   thrown      / 

*v 


back  upon  the  higher  training  as  its  source 
chief  support.  There  was  a  time  when  any 
aged  and  wornout  carpenter  could  teach  in  a 
trade  school.  But  not  so  to-day.  Indeed  the 
demand  for  college-bred  men  by  a  school  like 
Tuskegee,  ought  to  make  Mr.  Booker  T. 
Washington  the  firmest  friend  of  higher  train- 
ing Here  he  has  as  helpers  the  son  of  a  Ne- 
gro senator,  trained  in  Greek  and  the  human- 
ities, and  graduated  at  Harvard;  the  son  of  a 

[73] 


The  Negro  Problem 

Negro  congressman  and  lawyer,  trained  in 
Latin  and  mathematics,  and  graduated  at  Ober- 
lin;  he  has  as  his  wife,  a  woman  who  read  Vir- 
gil and  Homer  in  the  same  class  room  with  me ; 
he  has  as  college  chaplain,  a  classical  graduate 
of  Atlanta  University;  as  teacher  of  science,  a 
graduate  of  Fisk;  as  teacher  of  history,  a  grad- 
uate of  Smith, — indeed  some  thirty  of  his 
chief  teachers  are  college  graduates,  and  in- 
stead of  studying  French  grammars  in  the 
midst  of  weeds,  or  buying  pianos  for  dirty  cab- 
ins, they  are  at  Mr.  Washington's  right  hand 
helping  him  in  a  noble  work.  And  yet  one  of 
the  effects  of  Mr.  Washington's  propaganda 
has  been  to  throw  doubt  upon  the  expediency 
of  such  training  for  Negroes,  as  these  persons 
have  had. 


Men  of  America,  the  problem  is  plain  before 
you.  Here  is  a  race  transplanted  through  the 
criminal  foolishness  of  your  fathers.  Whether 
you  like  it  or  not  the  millions  are  here,  and  here 
they  will  remain.  If  you  do  not  lift  them  up, 

[74] 


The  Talented  Tenth 

they  will  pull  you  down.  Education  and  work 
are  the  levers  to  uplift  a  people.  Work  alone 
will  not  do  it  unless  inspired  by  the  right  ideals 
and  guided  by  intelligence.  Education  must 
not  simply  teach  work — it  must  teach  Life. 
The  Talented  Tenth  of  the  Negro  race  must 
be  made  leaders  of  thought  and  missionaries 
of  culture  among  their  people.  (  No  others  can 
do  this  work  and  Negro  colleges  must  train 
men  for  it. )  The  Negro  race,  like  all  other 
races,  is  going  to  be  saved  by  its  exceptional 
men. 


[75] 


The  Disfranchisement  of  the  Negro 
By  CHARLES  W.  CHESNUTT 

In  this  paper  the  author  presents  a  straightforward  state- 
ment of  facts  concerning  the  disfranchisement  of  the  Negro 
in  the  Southern  States.  Mr.  Chesnutt,  who  is  too  well 
known  as  a  writer  to  need  any  introduction  to  an  Ameri- 
can audience,  puts  the  case  for  the  Negro  to  the  American 
people  very  plainly,  and  spares  neither  the  North  nor  the 
South. 


CHARLES   W.   CHESNUTP. 


THE  DISFRANCHISEMENT  OF 
THE  NEGRO 

The  right  of  American  citizens  of  African 
descent,  commonly  called  Negroes,  to  vote  upon 
the  same  terms  as  other  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  is  plainly  declared  and  firmly  fixed  by 
the  Constitution.  No  such  person  is  called 
upon  to  present  reasons  why  he  should  possess 
this  right :  that  question  is  foreclosed  by  the 
Constitution.  The  object  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise is  to  give  representation.  So  long  as  the 
Constitution  retains  its  present  form,  any  State 
Constitution,  or  statute,  which  seeks,  by  jug- 
gling the  ballot,  to  deny  the  colored  race  fair 
representation,  is  a  clear  violation  of  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  land,  and  a  corresponding 
injustice  to  those  thus  deprived  of  this  right. 

For  thirty-five  years  this  has  been  the  law. 
As  long  as  it  was  measurably  respected,  the  col- 

[79] 


The  Negro  Problem 

ored  people  made  rapid  strides  in  education, 
wealth,  character  and  self-respect.  This  the 
census  proves,  all  statements  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding  A  generation  has  grown  to 
manhood  and  womanhood  under  the  great,  in- 
spiring freedom  conferred  by  the  Constitution 
and  protected  by  the  right  of  suffrage — pro- 
tected in  large  degree  by  the  mere  naked  right, 
even  when  its  exercise  was  hindered  or  denied 
by  unlawful  means.  They  have  developed,  in 
every  Southern  community,  good  citizens,  who, 
if  sustained  and  encouraged  by  just  laws  and 
liberal  institutions,  would  greatly  augment  their 
number  with  the  passing  years,  and  soon  wipe 
out  the  reproach  of  ignorance,  unthrift,  low 
morals  and  social  inefficiency,  thrown  at  them 
indiscriminately  and  therefore  unjustly,  and 
made  the  excuse  for  the  equally  undiscrimin- 
ating  contempt  of  their  persons  and  their 
rights.  They  have  reduced  their  illiteracy 
nearly  50  per  cent.  Excluded  from  the  institu- 
tions of  higher  learning  in  their  own  States, 
their  young  men  hold  their  own,  and  occasion- 

[so] 


Disfranchiscment 

ally  carry  away  honors,  in  the  universities  of  the 
North.  They  have  accumulated  three  hundred 
million  dollars  worth  of  real  and  personal 
property.  Individuals  among  them  have  ac- 
quired substantial  wealth,  and  several  have  at- 
tained to  something  like  national  distinction  in 
art,  letters  and  educational  leadership.  They 
are  numerously  represented  in  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. Heavily  handicapped,  they  have 
made  such  rapid  progress  that  the  suspicion  is 
justified  that  their  advancement,  rather  than 
any  stagnation  or  retrogression,  is  the  true  se- 
cret of  the  virulent  Southern  hostility  to  their 
rights,  which  has  so  influenced  Northern  opin- 
ion that  it  stands  mute,  and  leaves  the  colored 
people,  upon  whom  the  North  conferred  liberty, 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  those  who  have  al- 
ways denied  their  fitness  for  it. 

It  may  be  said,  in  passing,  that  the  word 
"Negro,"  where  used  in  this  paper,  is  used 
solely  for  convenience.  By  the  census  of  1890 
there  were  1,000,000  colored  people  in  the 
country  who  were  half,or  more  than  half, white, 
[81] 


The  Negro  Problem 

and  logically  there  must  be,  as  in  fact  there  are, 
so  many  who  share  the  white  blood  in  some  de- 
gree, as  to  justify  the  assertion  that  the  race 
problem  in  the  United  States  concerns  the  wel- 
fare and  the  status  of  a  mixed  race.  Their 
rights  are  not  one  whit  the  more  sacred  because 
of  this  fact;  but  in  an  argument  where  injustice 
is  sought  to  be  excused  because  of  fundamental 
differences  of  race,  it  is  well  enough  to  bear  in 
mind  that  the  race  whose  rights  and  liberties 
are  endangered  all  over  this  country  by  disfran- 
chisement  at  the  South,  are  the  colored  people 
who  live  in  the  United  States  to-day,  and  not 
the  low-browed,  man-eating  savage  whom  the 
Southern  white  likes  to  set  upon  a  block  and 
contrast  with  Shakespeare  and  Newton  and 
Washington  and  Lincoln.  \ 

Despite  and  in  defiance  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, to-day  in  the  six  Southern  States  of 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  North  Caro- 
lina, South  Carolina  and  Virginia,  containing 
an  aggregate  colored  population  of  about  6,- 
000,000,  these  have  been,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 

[82] 


Disfranchiscment 

poses,  denied,  so  far  as  the  States  can  effect  it, 
the  right  to  vote.  This  disfranchisement  is  ac- 
complished by  various  methods,  devised  with 
much  transparent  ingenuity,  the  effort  being  in 
each  instance  to  violate  the  spirit  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  by  disfranchising  the  Negro, 
while  seeming  to  respect  its  letter  by  avoiding 
the  mention  of  race  or  color. 

These  restrictions  fall  into  three  groups. 
The  first  comprises  a  property  qualification — 
the  ownership  of  $300  worth  or  more  of  real 
or  personal  property  (Alabama,  Louisiana,  Vir- 
ginia and  South  Carolina)  ;  the  payment  of  a 
poll  tax  (Mississippi,  North  Carolina,  Vir- 
ginia) ;  an  educational  qualification — the  abil- 
ity to  read  and  write  (Alabama,  Louisiana, 
North  Carolina).  Thus  far,  those  who  believe 
in  a  restricted  suffrage  everywhere,  could  per- 
haps find  no  reasonable  fault  with  any  one  of 
these  qualifications,  applied  either  separately  or 
together. 

But  the  Negro  has  made  such  progress  that 
these  restrictions  alone  would  perhaps  not  de- 

[83] 


The  Negro  Problem 

prive  him  of  effective  representation.  Hence 
the  second  group.  This  comprises  an  "under- 
standing" clause — the  applicant  must  be  able 
"to  read,  or  understand  when  read  to  him,  any 
clause  in  the  Constitution"  (Mississippi),  or  to 
read  and  explain,  or  to  understand  and  explain 
when  read  to  him,  any  section  of  the  Constitu- 
tion (Virginia)  ;  an  employment  qualification 
— the  voter  must  be  regularly  employed  in  some 
lawful  occupation  (Alabama) ;  a  character 
qualification — the  voter  must  be  a  person  of 
good  character  and  who  "understands  the 
duties  and  obligations  of  citizens  under  a  re- 
publican (!)  form  of  government"  (Alabama). 
The  qualifications  under  the  first  group  it  will 
be  seen,  are  capable  of  exact  demonstration; 
those  under  the  second  group  are  left  to  the  dis- 
cretion and  judgment  of  the  registering  officer 
—for  in  most  instances  these  are  all  require- 
ments for  registration,  which  must  precede 
voting. 

But  the  first  group,  by  its  own  force,  and  the 
second   group,   under   imaginable   conditions, 

[84] 


Disfranchisement 

might  exclude  not  only  the  Negro  vote,  but  a 
large  part  of  the  white  vote.  Hence,  the  third 
group,  which  comprises :  a  military  service 
qualification — any  man  who  went  to  war,  wil- 
lingly or  unwillingly,  in  a  good  cause  or  a  bad, 
is  entitled  to  register  (Ala.,  Va.)  ;  a  prescrip- 
tive qualification,  under  which  are  included  all 
male  persons  who  were  entitled  to  vote  on  Jan- 
uary i,  1867,  at  which  date  the  Negro  had  not 
yet  been  given  the  right  to  vote;  a  hered- 
itary qualification,  (the  so-called  "grandfather" 
clause),  whereby  any  son  (Va.),  or  descendant 
(Ala.),  of  a  soldier,  and  (N.  C.)  the  descend- 
ant of  any  person  who  had  the  right  to  vote  on 
January  i,  1867,  inherits  that  right.  If  the 
voter  wish  to  take  advantage  of  these  last  pro- 
visions, which  are  in  the  nature  of  exceptions 
to  a  general  rule,  he  must  register  within  a 
stated  time,  whereupon  he  becomes  a  member 
of  a  privileged  class  of  permanently  enrolled 
voters  not  subject  to  any  of  the  other 
restrictions. 

[85] 


The  Negro  Problem 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  restrictions  are  var- 
iously combined  in  the  different  States,  and  it 
is  apparent  that  if  combined  to  their  declared 
end,  practically  every  Negro  may,  under  color 
of  law,  be  denied  the  right  to  vote,  and  prac- 
tically every  white  man  accorded  that 
right.  The  effectiveness  of  these  provisions  to 
exclude  the  Negro  vote  is  proved  by  the  Ala- 
bama registration  under  the  new  State  Consti- 
tution. Out  of  a  total,  by  the  census  of  1900,  of 
181,471  Negro  "males  of  voting  age,"  less  than 
3,000  are  registered;  in  Montgomery  county 
alone,  the  seat  of  the  State  capital,  where  there 
are  7,000  Negro  males  of  voting  age,  only  47 
have  been  allowed  to  register,  while  in  several 
counties  not  one  single  Negro  is  permitted  to 
exercise  the  franchise. 

These  methods  of  disfranchisement  have 
stood  such  tests  as  the  United  States  Courts, 
including  the  Supreme  Court,  have  thus  far 
seen  fit  to  apply,  in  such  cases  as  have  been  be- 
fore them  for  adjudication.  These  include  a 
case  based  upon  the  "understanding"  clause  of 
[86] 


Disfranchisement 

the  Mississippi  Constitution,  in  which  the  Su- 
preme Court  held,  in  effect,  that  since  there  was 
no  ambiguity  in  the  language  employed  and  the 
Negro  was  not  directly  named,  the  Court  would 
not  go  behind  the  wording  of  the  Constitution 
to  find  a  meaning  which  discriminated  against 
the  colored  voter;  and  the  recent  case  of  Jack- 
son vs.  Giles,  brought  by  a  colored  citizen  of 
Montgomery,  Alabama,  in  which  the  Supreme 
Court  confesses  itself  impotent  to  provide  a 
remedy  for  what,  by  inference,  it  acknowledges 
may  be  a  "great  political  wrong,"  carefully 
avoiding,  however,  to  state  that  it  is  a  wrong, 
although  the  vital  prayer  of  the  petition  was 
for  a  decision  upon  this  very  point. 

Now,  what  is  the  effect  of  this  wholesale  dis- 
franchisement  of  colored  men,  upon  their  citi- 
zenship. The  value  of  food  to  the  human  or- 
ganism is  not  measured  by  the  pains  of  an  oc- 
casional surfeit,  but  by  the  effect  of  its  entire 
deprivation.  Whether  a  class  of  citizens  should 
vote,  even  if  not  always  wisely — what  class 
does  ? — may  best  be  determined  by  considering 

[87] 


The  Negro  Problem 

their  condition  when  they  are  without  the  right 
to  vote. 

The  colored  people  are  left,  in  the  States 
where  they  have  been  disfranchised,  absolutely 
without  representation,  direct  or  indirect,  in 
any  law-making  body,  in  any  court  of  justice, 
in  any  branch  of  government — for  the  feeble 
remnant  of  voters  left  by  law  is  so  inconsider- 
able as  to  be  without  a  shadow  of  power.  Con- 
stituting one-eighth  of  the  population  of  the 
whole  country,  two-fifths  of  the  whole  South- 
ern people,  and  a  majority  in  several  States, 
they  are  not  able,  because  disfranchised  where 
most  numerous,  to  send  one  representative  to 
the  Congress,  which,  by  the  decision  in  the  Ala- 
bama case,  is  held  by  the  Supreme  Court  to  be 
the  only  body,  outside  of  the  State  itself,  com- 
petent to  give  relief  from  a  great  political 
wrong.  By  former  decisions  of  the  same  tri- 
bunal, even  Congress  is  impotent  to  protect 
their  civil  rights,  the  Fourteenth  Amendment 
having  long  since,  by  the  consent  of  the  same 
Court,  been  in  many  respects  as  completely  nul- 
[88] 


Disfranchisemcnt 

lified  as  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  is  now 
sought  to  be.  They  have  no  direct  representa- 
tion in  any  Southern  legislature,  and  no  voice 
in  determining  the  choice  of  white  men  who 
might  be  friendly  to  their  rights.  Nor  are 
they  able  to  influence  the  election  of  judges  or 
other  public  officials,  to  whom  are  entrusted  the 
protection  of  their  lives,  their  liberties  and  their 
property.  No  judge  is  rendered  careful,  no 
sheriff  diligent,  for  fear  that  he  may  offend  a 
black  constituency ;  the  contrary  is  most  lament- 
ably true ;  day  after  day  the  catalogue  of  lynch- 
ings  and  anti-Negro  riots  upon  every  imagin- 
able pretext,  grows  longer  and  more  appalling. 
The  country  stands  face  to  face  with  the  re- 
vival of  slavery ;  at  the  moment  of  this  writing 
a  federal  grand  jury  in  Alabama  is  uncovering 
a  system  of  peonage  established  under  cover  of 
law. 

Under  the  Southern  program  it  is  sought 
to  exclude  colored  men  from  every  grade  of  the 
public  service :  not  only  from  the  higher  admin- 
istrative functions,  to  which  few  of  them  would 

[89] 


The  Negro  Problem 

in  any  event,  for  a  long  time  aspire,  but  from 
the  lowest  as  well.  A  Negro  may  not  be  a  con- 
stable or  a  policeman.  He  is  subjected  by  law 
to  many  degrading  discriminations.  He  is  re- 
quired to  be  separated  from  white  people  on 
railroads  and  street  cars,  and,  by  custom,  de- 
barred from  inns  and  places  of  public  enter- 
tainment. His  equal  right  to  a  free  public  edu- 
cation is  constantly  threatened  and  is  nowhere 
equitably  recognized.  In  Georgia,  as  has  been 
shown  by  Dr.  DuBois,  where  the  law  provides 
for  a  pro  rata  distribution  of  the  public  school 
fund  between  the  races,  and  where  the  colored 
school  population  is  48  per  cent,  of  the  total, 
the  amount  of  the  fund  devoted  to  their  schools 
is  only  20  per  cent.  In  New  Orleans,  with  an 
immense  colored  population,  many  of  whom 
are  persons  of  means  and  culture,  all  colored 
public  schools  above  the  fifth  grade  have  been 
abolished. 

The  Negro  is  subjected  to  taxation  without  - 
representation,  which  the  forefathers    of   this 
Republic  made'the  basis  of  a  bloody  revolution. 

[90] 


Disfranchisement 

Flushed  with  their  local  success,  and  encour- 
aged by  the  timidity  of  the  Courts  and  the  in- 
difference of  public  opinion,  the  Southern 
whites  have  carried  their  campaign  into  the  na- 
tional government,  with  an  ominous  degree  of 
success.  If  they  shall  have  their  way,  no  Ne- 
gro can  fill  any  federal  office,  or  occupy,  in  the 
public  service,  any  position  that  is  not  menial. 
This  is  not  an  inference,  but  the  openly,  pas- 
sionately avowed  sentiment  of  the  white  South. 
The  right  to  employment  in  the  public  service 
is  an  exceedingly  valuable  one,  for  which  white 
men  have  struggled  and  fought.  A  vast  army 
of  men  are  employed  in  the  administration  of 
public  affairs.  Many  avenues  of  employment 
are  closed  to  colored  men  by  popular  prejudice. 
If  their  right  to  public  employment  is  recog- 
nized, and  the  way  to  it  open  through  the  civil 
service,  or  the  appointing  power,  or  the  suf- 
frages of  the  people,  it  will  prove,  as  it  has  al- 
ready, a  strong  incentive  to  effort  and  a  pow- 
erful lever  for  advancement.  Its  value  to  the 
Negro,  like  that  of  the  right  to  vote,  may  be 

[91] 


The  Negro  Problem 

judged  by  the  eagerness  of  the  whites  to  de- 
prive him  of  it. 

Not  only  is  the  Negro  taxed  without  repre- 
sentation in  the  States  referred  to,  but  he  pays, 
through  the  tariff  and  internal  revenue,  a  tax 
to  a  National  government  whose  supreme  ju- 
dicial tribunal  declares  that  it  cannot,  through 
the  executive  arm,  enforce  its  own  decrees,  and, 
therefore,  refuses  to  pass  upon  a  question, 
squarely  before  it,  involving  a  basic  right  of 
citizenship.  |  For  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  Giles  case,  if  it  foreshadows  the 
attitude  which  the  Court  will  take  upon  other 
cases  to  the  same  general  end  which  will  soon 
come  before  it,  is  scarcely  less  than  a  reaffirma- 
tion  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision;  it  certainly 
amounts  to  this — that  in  spite  of  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment,  colored  men  in  the  United  $tates 
have  no  political  rights  which  the  States  are 
bound  to  respect.  To  say  this  much  is  to  say 
that  all  privileges  and  immunities  which  Ne- 
groes henceforth  enjoy,  must  be  by  favor  of 
the  whites;  they  are  not  rights.  The  whites 

[92] 


Disfranchisement 

have  so  declared ;  they  proclaim  that  the  coun- 
try is  theirs,  that  the  Negro  should  be  thankful 
that  he  has  so  much,  when  so  much  more  might 
be  withheld  from  him.  He  stands  upon  a  low- 
er footing  than  any  alien;  he  has  no  govern- 
ment to  which  he  may  look  for  protection. 

Moreover,  the  white  South  sends  to  Con- 
gress, on  a  basis  including  the  Negro  popula- 
tion, a  delegation  nearly  twice  as  large  as  it  is 
justly  entitled  to,  and  one  which  may  always 
safely  be  relied  upon  to  oppose  in  Congress 
every  measure  which  seeks  to  protect  the  equal- 
ity, or  to  enlarge  the  rights  of  colored  citizens. 
The  grossness  of  this  injustice  is  all  the  more 
apparent  since  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the 
Alabama  case  referred  to,  has  declared  the 
legislative  and  political  department  of  the 
government  to  be  the  only  power  which  can 
right  a  political  wrong.  Under  this  decision 
still  further  attacks  upon  the  liberties  of  the  cit- 
izen may  be  confidently  expected.  Armed  with 
the  Negro's  sole  weapon  of  defense,  the  white 
South  stands  ready  to  smite  down  his  rights. 

[93] 


The  Negro  Problem 

The  ballot  was  first  given  to  the  Negro  to  de- 
fend him  against  this  very  thing.  He  needs  it 
now  far  more  than  then,  and  for  even  stronger 
reasons.  The  9,000,000  free  colored  people  of 
to-day  have  vastly  more  to  defend  than  the  3,- 
000,000  hapless  blacks  who  had  just  emerged 
from  slavery.  If  there  be  those  who  maintain 
that  it  was  a  mistake  to  give  the  Negro  the  bal- 
lot at  the  time  and  in  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  given,  let  them  take  to  heart  this  reflection : 
that  to  deprive  him  of  it  to-day,  or  to  so  restrict 
it  as  to  leave  him  utterly  defenseless  against  the 
present  relentless  attitude  of  the  South  toward 
his  rights,  will  prove  to  be  a  mistake  so  much 
greater  than  the  first,  as  to  be  no  less  than  a 
crime,  from  which  not  alone  the  Southern  Ne- 
gro must  suffer,  but  for  which  the  nation  will 
as  surely  pay  the  penalty  as  it  paid  for  the  crime 
of  slavery.  Contempt  for  law  is  death  to  a  re- 
public, and  this  one  has  developed  alarming 
symptoms  of  the  disease. 

And  now,  having  thus  robbed  the  Negro  of 
every  political  and  civil  right,  the  white  South. 

[94] 


Disfranchisement 

in  palliation  of  its  course,  makes  a  great  show 
of  magnanimity  in  leaving  him,  as  the  sole 
remnant  of  what  he  acquired  through  the  Civil 
War,  a  very  inadequate  public  school  education, 
which,  by  the  present  program,  is  to  be  directed 
mainly  towards  making  him  a  better  agricul- 
tural laborer.  Even  this  is  put  forward  as  a 
favor,  although  the  Negro's  property  is  taxed 
to  pay  for  it,  and  his  labor  as  well.  For  it  is  a 
well  settled  principle  of  political  economy,  that 
land  and  machinery  of  themselves  produce 
nothing,  and  that  labor  indirectly  pays  its  fair 
proportion  of  the  tax  upon  the  public's  wealth. 
The  white  South  seems  to  stand  to  the  Negro 
at  present  as  one,  who,  having  been  reluctantly 
compelled  to  release  another  from  bondage, 
sees  him  stumbling  forward  and  upward,  neg- 
lected by  his  friends  and  scarcely  yet  conscious 
of  his  own  strength ;  seizes  him,  binds  him,  and 
having  bereft  him  of  speech,  of  sight  and  of 
manhood,  "yokes  him  with  the  mule"  and  ex- 
claims, with  a  show  of  virtue  which  ought  to 
deceive  no  one :  "Behold  how  good  a  friend  I 

[95] 


The  Negro  Problem 

am  of  yours !  Have  I  not  left  you  a  stomach 
and  a  pair  of  arms,  and  will  I  not  generously 
permit  you  to  work  for  me  with  the  one,  that 
you  may  thereby  gain  enough  to  fill  the  other  ?' 
A  brain  you  do  not  need.  We  will  relieve  you 
of  any  responsibility  that  might  seem  to  de- 
mand such  an  organ." 

The  argument  of  peace-loving  Northern 
white  men  and  Negro  opportunists  that  the 
political  power  of  the  Negro  having  long  ago 
been  suppressed  by  unlawful  means,  his  right 
to  vote  is  a  mere  paper  right,  of  no  real  value, 
and  therefore  to  be  lightly  yielded  for  the  sake 
of  a  hypothetical  harmony,  is  fatally  short- 
sighted. It  is  precisely  the  attitude  and  essen- 
tially the  argument  which  would  have  surren- 
dered to  the  South  in  the  sixties,  and  would 
have  left  this  country  to  rot  in  slavery  for  an- 
other generation.  White  men  do  not  thus 
argue  concerning  their  own  rights.  They 
know  too  well  the  value  of  ideals.  Southern 
white  men  see  too  clearly  the  latent  power  of 
these  unexercised  rights.  If  the  political  pow- 

[96] 


Disfranchisement 

er  of  the  Negro  was  a  nullity  because  of  his  ig- 
norance and  lack  of  leadership,  why  were  they 
not  content  to  leave  it  so,  with  the  pleasing  as- 
surance that  if  it  ever  became  effective,  it  would 
be  because  the  Negroes  had  grown  fit  for  its 
exercise?  On  the.  contrary,  they  have  not 
rested  until  the  possibility  of  its  revival  was  ap- 
parently headed  off  by  new  State  Constitutions. 
Nor  are  they  satisfied  with  this.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  an  effort  will  be  made  to  secure  the 
repeal  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  and  thus 
forestall  the  development  of  the  wealthy  and 
educated  Negro,  whom  the  South  seems  to  an- 
ticipate as  a  greater  menace  than  the  ignorant 
ex-slave.  However  improbable  this  repeal  may 
seem,  it  is  not  a  subject  to  be  lightly  dismissed; 
for  it  is  within  the  power  of  the  white  people  of 
the  nation  to  do  whatever  they  wish  in  the 
premises — they  did  it  once;  they  can  do  it 
again.  The  Negro  and  his  friends  should  see 
to  it  that  the  white  majority  shall  never  wish 
to  do  anything  to  his  hurt.  There  still  stands, 
before  the  Negro-hating  whites  of  the  South, 

[97] 


The  Negro  Problem 

the  specter  of  a  Supreme  Court  which  will  in- 
terpret the  Constitution  to  mean  what  it  says, 
and  what  those  who  enacted  it  meant,  and 
what  the  nation,  which  ratified  it,  understood, 
and  which  will  find  power,  in  a  nation  which 
goes  beyond  seas  to  administer  the  affairs  of 
distant  peoples,  to  enforce  its  own  fundamental 
laws;  the  specter,  too,  of  an  aroused  public 
opinion  which  will  compel  Congress  and  the 
Courts  to  preserve  the  liberties  of  the  Repub- 
lic, which  are  the  liberties  of  the  people.  To 
wilfully  neglect  the  suffrage,  to  hold  it  lightly, 
is  to  tamper  with  a  sacred  right ;  to  yield  it  for 
anything  else  whatever  is  simply  suicidal. 
Dropping  the  element  of  race,  disfranchisement 
is  no  more  than  to  say  to  the  poor  and  poorly 
taught,  that  they  must  relinquish  the  right  to 
defend  themselves  against  oppression  until 
they  shall  have  become  rich  and  learned,  in 
competition  with  those  already  thus  favored 
and  possessing  the  ballot  in  addition.  This  is 
not  the  philosophy  of  history.  The  growth  of 
liberty  has  been  the  constant  struggle  of  the 

[98] 


Disfranchisement 

poor  against  the  privileged  classes ;  and  the  goal 
of  that  struggle  has  ever  been  the  equality 
of  all  men  before  the  law.  The  Negro 
who  would  yield  this  right,  deserves  to  be 
a  slave ;  he  has  the  servile  spirit.  The  rich 
and  the  educated  can,  by  virtue  of  their 
influence,  command  many  votes;  can  find 
other  means  of  protection;  the  poor  man 
has  but  one,  he  should  guard  it  as  a  sacred 
treasure.  Long  ago,  by  fair  treatment,  the 
white  leaders  of  the  South  might  have  bound 
the  Negro  to  themselves  with  hoops  of  steel. 
They  have  not  chosen  to  take  this  course,  but 
by  assuming  from  the  beginning  an  attitude 
hostile  to  his  rights,  have  never  gained  his  con- 
fidence, and  now  seek  by  foul  means  to  destroy 
where  they  have  never  sought  by  fair  means  to 
control. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  effect  of  disfran- 
chisement  upon  the  colored  race;  it  is  to  the 
race  as  a  whole,  that  the  argument  of  the  prob- 
lem is  generally  directed.  But  the  unit  of  so- 
ciety in  a  republic  is  the  individual,  and  not  the 

[99] 


The  Negro  Problem 

race,  the  failure  to  recognize  this  fact  being  the 
fundamental  error  which  has  beclouded  the 
whole  discussion.  The  effect  of  disfranchise- 
ment  upon  the  individual  is  scarcely  less  disas- 
trous. I  do  hot  speak  of  the  moral  effect  of  in- 
justice upon  those  who  suffer  from  it;  I  refer 
rather  to  the  practical  consequences  which  may 
be  appreciated  by  any  mind.  No  country  is 
free  in  which  the  way  upward  is  not  open  for 
every  man  to  try,  and  for  every  properly  qual- 
ified man  to  attain  whatever  of  good  the  com- 
munity life  may  offer.  Such  a  condition  does 
not  exist,  at  the  South,  even  in  theory,  for  any 
man  of  color.  In  no  career  can  such  a  man 
compete  with  white  men  upon  equal  terms.  He 
must  not  only  meet  the  prejudice  of  the  indi- 
vidual, not  only  the  united  prejudice  of  the 
white  community;  but  lest  some  one  should 
wish  to  treat  him  fairly,  he  is  met  at  every  turn 
with  some  legal  prohibition  which  says,  "Thou 
shalt  not,"  or  "Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no 
farther."  But  the  Negro  race  is  viable;  it 
adapts  itself  readily  to  circumstances;  and  be- 
[100] 


Disfranchisernent 

ing  thus  adaptable,  there  is  always  the  tempta- 
tion to 

"Crook  the  pregnant  hinges  of  the  knee, 
Where  thrift  may  follow  fawning." 
He  who  can  most  skilfully  balance  himself 
upon  the  advancing  or  receding  wave  of  white 
opinion  concerning  his  race,  is  surest  of  such 
measure  of  prosperity  as  is  permitted  to  men 
of  dark  skins.  There  are  Negro  teachers  in 
the  South — the  privilege  of  teaching  in  their 
own  schools  is  the  one  respectable  branch  of 
the  public  service  still  left  open  to  them — who, 
for  a  grudging  appropriation  from  a  Southern 
legislature,  will  decry  their  own  race,  approve 
their  own  degradation,  and  laud  their  oppres- 
sors. Deprived  of  the  right  to  vote,  and,  there- 
fore, of  any  power  to  demand  what  is  their 
due,  they  feel  impelled  to  buy  the  tolerance  of 
the  whites  at  any  sacrifice.  If  to  live  is  the  first 
duty  of  man,  as  perhaps  it  is  the  first  instinct, 
then  those  who  thus  stoop  to  conquer  may  be 
right.  But  is  it  needful  to  stoop  so  low,  and 

[101] 


The  Negro  Problem 

if  so,  where  lies  the  ultimate  responsibility  for 
this  abasement? 

I  shall  say  nothing  about  the  moral  effect  of 
disfranchisement  upon  the  white  people,  or 
upon  the  State  itself.  What  slavery  made  of 
the  Southern  whites  is  a  matter  of  history. 
The  abolition  of  slavery  gave  the  South  an  op- 
portunity to  emerge  from  barbarism.  Present 
conditions  indicate  that  the  spirit  which  dom- 
inated slavery  still  curses  the  fair  section  over 
which  that  institution  spread  its  blight. 

And  now,  is  the  situation  remediless?  If 
not  so,  where  lies  the  remedy?  First  let  us 
take  up  those  remedies  suggested  by  the  men 
who  approve  of  disfranchisement,  though  they 
may  sometimes  deplore  the  method,  or  regret 
the  necessity. 

Time,  we  are  told,  heals  all  diseases,  rights 
all  wrongs,  and  is  the  only  cure  for  this 
one.  It  is  a  cowardly  argument.  These 
people  are  entitled  to  their  rights  to-day,  while 
they  are  yet  alive  to  enjoy  them ;  and  it  is  poor 
statesmanship  and  worse  morals  to  nurse  a 

[102] 


Disfranchiscment 

present  evil  and  thrust  it  forward  upon  a  future 
generation  for  correction.  The  nation  can  no 
more  honestly  do  this  than  it  could  thrust  back 
upon  a  past  generation  the  responsibility  for 
slavery.  It  had  to  meet  that  responsibility;  it 
ought  to  meet  this  one. 

[^Education  has  been  put  forward  as  the  great 
corrective — preferably  industrial  education.  J 
The  intellect  of  the  whites  is  to  be  educated  to 
the  point  where  they  will  so  appreciate  the 
blessings  of  liberty  and  equality,  as  of  their 
own  motion  to  enlarge  and  defend  the  Negro's 
rights.  The  Negroes,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
to  be  so  trained  as  to  make  them,  not  equal 
with  the  whites  in  any  way — God  save  the 
mark!  this  would  be  unthinkable! — but  so  use- 
ful to  the  community  that  the  whites  will  pro- 
tect them  rather  than  to  lose  their  valuable  ser- 
vices. Some  few  enthusiasts  go  so  far  as  to 
maintain  that  by  virtue  of  education  the  Negro 
will,  in  time,  become  strong  enough  to  protect 
himself  against  any  aggression  of  the  whites; 
this,  it  may  be  said,  is  a  strictly  Northern  view. 
[103] 


The  Negro  Problem 

It  is  not  quite  clearly  apparent  how  educa- 
tion alone,  in  the  ordinary  meaning  of  the 
Avord,  is  to  solve,  in  any  appreciable  time,  the 
problem  of  the  relations  of  Southern  white  and 
black  people-  The  need  of  education  of  all 
kinds  for  both  races  is  wofully  apparent.  But 
men  and  nations  have  been  free  without  being 
learned,  and  there  have  been  educated  slaves. 
Liberty  has  been  known  to  languish  where  cul- 
ture had  reached  a  very  high  development. 
Nations  do  not  first  become  rich  and  learned 
and  then  free,  but  the  lesson  of  history  has 
been  that  they  first  become  free  and  then 
rich  and  learned,  and  oftentimes  fall  back  into 
slavery  again  because  of  too  great  wealth,  and 
the  resulting  luxury  and  carelessness  of  civic 
virtues.  The  process  of  education  has  been 
going  on  rapidly  in  the  Southern  States  since 
the  Civil  War,  and  yet,  if  we  take  superficial 
indications,  the  rights  of  the  Negroes  are  at  a 
lower  ebb  than  at  any  time  during  the  thirty- 
five  years  of  their  freedom,  and  the  race  preju- 
dice more  intense  and  uncompromising.  It  is 
[104] 


Disfranchisement 

not  apparent  that  educated  Southerners  are  less 
rancorous  than  others  in  their  speech  concern- 
ing the  Negro,  or  less  hostile  in  their  attitude 
toward  his  rights.  It  is  their  voice  alone  that 
we  have  heard  in  this  discussion ;  and  if,  as  they 
state,  they  are  liberal  in  their  views  as  com- 
pared with  the  more  ignorant  whites,  then  God 
save  the  Negro ! 

I  was  told,  in  so  many  words,  two  years  ago, 
by  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  of  a 
Southern  city  that  "there  was  no  place  in  the 
modern  world  for  the  Negro,  except  under  the 
ground."  If  gentlemen  holding  such  opinions 
are  to  instruct  the  white  youth  of  the  South, 
would  it  be  at  all  surprising  if  these,  later  on, 
should  devote  a  portion  of  their  leisure  to  the 
improvement  of  civilization  by  putting  under 
the  ground  as  many  of  this  superfluous  race  as 
possible  ? 

The  sole  excuse  made  in  the  South  for  the 
prevalent  injustice  to  the  Negro  is  the  differ- 
ence in  race,  and  the  inequalities  and  antipa- 
thies resulting  therefrom.  It  has  nowhere 


The  Negro  Problem 

been  declared  as  a  part  of  the  Southern  pro- 
.gram  that  the  Negro,  when  educated,  is  to  be 
.given  a  fair  representation  in  government  or  an 
•equal  opportunity  in  life;  the  contrary  has 
been  strenuously  asserted;  education  can  never 
make  of  him  anything  but  a  Negro,  and, 
therefore,  essentially  inferior,  and  not  to  be 
safely  trusted  with  any  degree  of  power. 
A  system  of  education  which  would  tend 
to  soften  the  asperities  and  lessen  the  in- 
equalities between  the  races  would  be  of 
inestimable  value.  An  education  which  by 
a  rigid  separation  of  the  races  from  the  kin- 
dergarten to  the  university,  fosters  this  racial 
antipathy,  and  is  directed  toward  emphasizing 
the  superiority  of  one  class  and  the  inferiority 
of  another,  might  easily  have  disastrous,  rather 
than  beneficial  results.  It  would  render  the  op- 
pressing class  more  powerful  to  injure,  the  op- 
pressed quicker  to  perceive  and  keener  to  re- 
sent the  injury,  without  proportionate  power 
of  defense.  The  same  assimilative  education 
which  is  given  at  the  North  to  all  children  alike, 
[106] 


Disfranchisement 

whereby  native^and  foreign,  black  and  white, 
are  taught  side  by  side  in  every  grade  of  in- 
struction, and  are  compelled  by  the  exigencies 
of  discipline  to  keep  their  prejudices  in  abey- 
ance, and  are  given  the  opportunity  to  learn 
and  appreciate  one  another's  good  qualities, 
and  to  establish  friendly  relations  which  may 
exist  throughout  life,  is  absent  from  the  South- 
ern system  of  education,  both  of  the  past  and 
as  proposed  for  the  future.  Education  is  in  a 
broad  sense  a  remedy  for  all  social  ills ;  but  the 
disease  we  have  to  deal  with  now  is  not  only 
constitutional  but  acute.  A  wise  physician 
does  not  simply  give  a  tonic  for  a  dis- 
eased limb,  or  a  high  fever;  the  patient  might 
be  dead  before  the  constitutional  remedy  could 
become  effective.  The  evils  of  slavery,  its  in- 
jury to  whites  and  blacks,  and  to  the  body  po- 
litic, was  clearly  perceived  and  acknowledged 
by  the  educated  leaders  of  the  South  as  far 
back  as  the  Revolutionary  War  and  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  and  yet  they  made  no 
effort  to  abolish  it.  Their  remedy  was  the 


The  Negro  Problem 

same — time,  education,  social  and  economic  de- 
velopment;— and  yet  a  bloody  war  was  neces- 
sary to  destroy  slavery  and  put  its  spirit  tem- 
porarily to  sleep.  When  the  South  and  its 
friends  are  ready  to  propose  a  system  of  edu- 
cation which  will  recognize  and  teach  the  equal- 
ity of  all  men  before  the  law,  the  potency  of 
education  alone  to  settle  the  race  problem  will 
be  more  clearly  apparent. 

At  present  even  good  Northern  men,  who 
wish  to  educate  the  Negroes,  feel  impelled  to 
buy  this  privilege  from  the  none  too  eager 
white  South,  by  conceding  away  the  civil  and 
political  rights  of  those  whom  they  would  ben- 
efit. They  have,  indeed,  gone  farther  than  the 
Southerners  themselves  in  approving  the  dis- 
franchisement  of  the  colored  race.  Most 
Southern  men,  now  that  they  have  carried  their 
point  and  disfranchised  the  Negro,  are  willing 
to  admit,  in  the  language  of  a  recent  number  of 
the  Charleston  Evening  Post,  that  "the  attitude 
of  the  Southern  white  man  toward  the  Negro 
is  incompatible  with  the  fundamental  ideas  of 

[to83 


Disfranchisement 

the  republic/'  It  remained  for  our  Clevelands 
and  Abbotts  and  Parkhursts  to  assure  them 
that  their  unlawful  course  was  right  and  justi- 
fiable, and  for  the  most  distinguished  Negro 
leader  to  declare  that  "every  revised  Constitu- 
tion throughout  the  Southern  States  has  put  a 
premium  upon  intelligence,  ownership  of  prop- 
erty, thrift  and  character."  So  does  every  pen- 
itentiary sentence  put  a  premium  upon  good 
conduct;  but  it  is  poor  consolation  to  the  one 
unjustly  condemned,  to  be  told  that  he  may 
shorten  his  sentence  somewhat  by  good  be- 
havior. Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington,  whose 
language  is  quoted  above,  has,  by  his  eminent 
services  in  the  cause  of  education,  won  deserved 
renown.  If  he  has  seemed,  at  times,  to  those 
jealous  of  the  best  things  for  their  race,  to  de- 
cry the  higher  education,  it  can  easily  be  borne 
in  mind  that  his  career  is  bound  up  in  the  suc- 
cess of  an  industrial  school;  hence  any  undue 
stress  which  he  may  put  upon  that  branch  of 
education  may  safely  be  ascribed  to  the  natural 
zeal  of  the  promoter,  without  detracting  in  any 
[109] 


The  Negro  Problem 

degree  from  the  essential  value  of  his  teach- 
ings in  favor  of  manual  training,  thrift  and 
character-building.  But  Mr.  Washington's 
prominence  as  an  educational  leader,  among  a 
race  whose  prominent  leaders  are  so  few,  has 
at  times  forced  him,  perhaps  reluctantly,  to  ex- 
press himself  in  regard  to  the  political  condi- 
tion of  his  people,  and  here  his  utterances  have 
not  always  been  so  wise  nor  so  happy.  He 
has  declared  himself  in  favor  of  a  restricted 
suffrage,  which  at  present  means,  for  his  own 
people,  nothing  less  than  complete  loss  of  rep- 
resentation— indeed  it  is  only  in  that  connec- 
tion that  the  question  has  been  seriously  moot- 
ed; and  he  has  advised  them  to  go  slow  in 
seeking  to  enforce  their  civil  and  political 
rights,  which,  in  effect,  means  silent  submis- 
sion to  injustice.  Southern  white  men  may 
applaud  this  advice  as  wise,  because  it  fits  in 
with  their  purposes;  but  Senator  McEnery  of 
Louisiana,  in  a  recent  article  in  the  Independ- 
ent, voices  the  Southern  white  opinion  of  such 
acquiescence  when  he  says :  "What  other  race 
[TIO] 


Disfranchiscmcnt 

would  have  submitted  so  many  years  to  slavery 
without  complaint?  What  other  race  would 
have  submitted  so  quietly  to  disfranchisementf 
These  facts  stamp  his  (the  Negro's)  inferiority 
to  the  white  race."  The  time  to  philosophize 
about  the  good  there  is  in  evil,  is  not  while  its 
correction  is  still  possible,  but,  if  at  all,  after  all 
hope  of  correction  is  past-  Until  then  it  calls 
for  nothing  but  rigorous  condemnation.  To 
try  to  read  any  good  thing  into  these  fraudu- 
lent Southern  constitutions,  or  to  accept  them 
as  an  accomplished  fact,  is  to  condone  a  crime 
against  one's  race.  Those  who  commit  crimev 
should  bear  the  odium.  It  is  not  a  pleasing 
spectacle  to  see  the  robbed  applaud  the  robber. 
Silence  were  better. 

It  has  become  fashionable  to  question  the 
wisdom  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment.  I  be- 
lieve it  to  have  been  an  act  of  the  highest 
statesmanship,  based  upon  the  fundamental 
idea  of  this  Republic,  entirely  justified  by  con- 
ditions ;  experimental  in  its  nature,  perhaps,  as 
every  new  thing  must  be,  but  just  in  principle; 

tin] 


The  Negro  Problem 

a  choice  between  methods,  of  which  it  seemed 
to  the  great  statesmen  of  that  epoch  the  wisest 
and  the  best,  and  essentially  the  most  just, 
bearing  in  mind  the  interests  of  the  freedmen 
and  the  Nation,  as  well  as  the  feelings  of  the 
Southern  whites ;  never  fairly  tried,  and  there- 
fore, not  yet  to  be  justly  condemned.  Not  one 
of  those  who  condemn  it,  has  been  able,  even  in 
the  light  of  subsequent  events,  to  suggest  a  bet- 
ter method  by  which  the  liberty  and  civil  rights 
of  the  freedmen  and  their  descendants  could 
have  been  protected.  Its  abandonment,  as  I 
have  shown,  leaves  this  liberty  and  these  rights 
frankly  without  any  guaranteed  protection. 
All  the  education  which  philanthropy  or  the 
State  could  offer  as  a  substitute  for  equality 
of  rights,  would  be  a  poor  exchange;  there 
is  no  defensible  reason  why  they  should  not  go 
hand  in  hand,  each  encouraging  and  strength- 
ening the  other.  The  education  which  one  can 
demand  as  a  right  is  likely  to  do  more  good 
than  the  education  for  which  one  must  sue  as  a 
favor. 

[112] 


Disfranchisement 

The  chief  argument  against  Negro  suffrage, 
the  insistently  proclaimed  argument,  worn 
threadbare  in  Congress,  on  the  platform,  in  the 
pulpit,  in  the  press,  in  poetry,  in  fiction,  in  im- 
passioned rhetoric,  is  the  reconstruction  period. 
And  yet  the  evils  of  that  period  were  due  far 
more  to  the  venality  and  indifference  of  white 
men  than  to  the  incapacity  of  black  voters. 
The  revised  Southern  Constitutions  adopted 
under  reconstruction  reveal  a  higher  statesman- 
ship than  any  which  preceded  or  have  followed 
them,  and  prove  that  the  freed  voters  could  as 
easily  have  been  led  into  the  paths  of  civic 
righteousness  as  into  those  of  misgovernment. 
Certain  it  is  that  under  reconstruction  the  civil 
and  political  rights  of  all  men  were  more  secure 
in  those  States  than  they  have  ever  been  since. 
We  will  hear  less  of  the  evils  of  reconstruction, 
now  that  the  bugaboo  has  served  its  purpose  by 
disfranchising  the  Negro,  it  will  be  laid  aside 
for  a  time  while  the  nation  discusses  the  polit- 
ical corruption  of  great  cities;  the  scandalous 
conditions  in  Rhode  Island ;  the  evils  attending 


The  Negro  Problem 

reconstruction  in  the  Philippines,  and  the  scan- 
dals in  the  postoffice  department — for  none  of 
which,  by  the  way,  is  the  Negro  charged  with 
any  responsibility,  and  for  none  of  which  is  the 
restriction  of  the  suffrage  a  remedy  seriously 
proposed.  Rhode  Island  is  indeed  the  only 
Northern  State  which  has  a  property  qualifica- 
tion for  the  franchise! 

There  are  three  tribunals  to  which  the  col- 
ored people  may  justly  appeal  for  the  protection 
of  their  rights :  the  United  States  Courts,  Con- 
gress and  public  opinion.  At  present  all  three 
seem  mainly  indifferent  to  any  question  of  hu- 
man rights  under  the  Constitution.  Indeed, 
Congress  and  the  Courts  merely  follow  public 
opinion,  seldom  lead  it.  Congress  never  en- 
acts a  measure  which  is  believed  to  oppose  pub- 
lic opinion; — your  Congressman  keeps  his  ear 
to  the  ground.  The  high,  serene  atmosphere 
of  the  Courts  is  not  impervious  to  its  voice; 
they  rarely  enforce  a  law  contrary  to  public 
opinion,  even  the  Supreme  Court  being  able,  as 
Charles  Sumner  once  put  it,  to  find  a  reason  for 
[114] 


Disfranchisement 

every  decision  it  may  wish  to  render ;  or,  as  ex- 
perience has  shown,  a  method  to  evade  any 
question  which  it  cannot  decently  decide  in  ac- 
cordance with  public  opinion.  The  art  of 
straddling  is  not  confined  to  the  political  arena. 
The  Southern  situation  has  been  well  described 
by  a  colored  editor  in  Richmond:  "When  we 
seek  relief  at  the  hands  of  Congress,  we  are  in- 
formed that  our  plea  involves  a  legal  question, 
and  we  are  referred  to  the  Courts.  When  we 
appeal  to  the  Courts,  we  are  gravely  told  that 
the  question  is  a  political  one,  and  that  we  must 
go  to  Congress.  When  Congress  enacts  rem- 
edial legislation,  our  enemies  take  it  to  the  Su- 
preme Court,  which  promptly  declares  it  un- 
constitutional." The  Negro  might  chase  his 
rights  round  and  round  this  circle  until  the  end 
of  time,  without  finding  any  relief. 

Yet  the  Constitution  is  clear  and  unequivocal 
in  its  terms,  and  no  Supreme  Court  can  indefi- 
nitely continue  to  construe  it  as  meaning  any- 
thing but  what  it  says.  This  Court  should  be 
bombarded  with  suits  until  it  makes  some  deft- 


The  Negro  Problem 

nite  pronouncement,  one  way  or  the  other,  on 
the  broad  question  of  the  constitutionality  of 
the  disfranchising  Constitutions  of  the  South- 
ern States.  The  Negro  and  his  friends  will 
then  have  a  clean-cut  issue  to  take  to  the  forum 
of  public  opinion,  and  a  distinct  ground  upon 
which  to  demand  legislation  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  Federal  Constitution.  The  case 
from  Alabama  was  carried  to  the  Supreme 
Court  expressly  to  determine  the  constitution- 
ality of  the  Alabama  Constitution.  The  Court 
declared  itself  without  jurisdiction,  and  in  the 
same  breath  went  into  the  merits  of  the  case 
far  enough  to  deny  relief,  without  passing  upon 
the  real  issue.  Had  it  said,  as  it  might  with 
absolute  justice  and  perfect  propriety,  that  the 
Alabama  Constitution  is  a  bold  and  impudent 
violation  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  the  pur- 
pose of  the  lawsuit  would  have  been  accom- 
plished and  a  righteous  cause  vastly  strength- 
ened. 

But  public  opinion  cannot  remain  permanent- 
ly indifferent  to  so  vital  a  question.     The  agi- 
[116] 


Disfranchisement 

tation  is  already  on.  It  is  at  present  largely 
academic,  but  is  slowly  and  resistlessly,  forcing 
itself  into  politics,  which  is  the  medium  through 
which  republics  settle  such  questions.  It  can- 
not much  longer  be  contemptuously  or  indiffer- 
ently elbowed  aside.  The  South  itself  seems 
bent  upon  forcing  the  question  to  an  issue,  as, 
by  its  arrogant  assumptions,  it  brought  on  the 
Civil  War.  From  that  section,  too,  there  come 
now  and  then,  side  by  side  with  tales  of  South- 
ern outrage,  excusing  voices,  which  at  the  same 
time  are  accusing  voices ;  which  admit  that  the 
white  South  is  dealing  with  the  Negro  unjustly 
and  unwisely;  that  the  Golden  Rule  has  been 
forgotten ;  that  the  interests  of  white  men  alone 
have  been  taken  into  account,  and  that  their 
true  interests  as  well  are  being  sacrificed. 
There  is  a  silent  white  South,  uneasy  in  con- 
science, darkened  in  counsel,  groping  for  the 
light,  and  willing  to  do  the  right.  They  are  as 
yet  a  feeble  folk,  their  voices  scarcely  audible 
above  the  clamor  of  the  mob.  May  their  con- 
victions ripen  into  wisdom,  and  may  their  num- 


The  Negro  Problem 

hers  and  their  courage  increase !  If  the  class  of 
Southern  white  men  of  whom  Judge  Jones  of 
Alabama,  is  so  noble  a  representative,  are  sup- 
ported and  encouraged  by  a  righteous  public 
opinion  at  the  North,  they  may,  in  time,  become 
the  dominant  white  South,  and  we  may  then 
look  for  wisdom  and  justice  in  the  place  where, 
so  far  as  the  Negro  is  concerned,  they  now  seem 
well-nigh  strangers.  But  even  these  gentle- 
men will  do  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  so  long  as 
they  discriminate  in  any  way  against  the  Ne- 
gro's equality  of  right,  so  long  do  they  set  class 
against  class  and  open  the  door  to  every  sort  of 
discrimination.  There  can  be  no  middle 
ground  between  justice  and  injustice,  between 
the  citizen  and  the  serf. 

It  is  not  likely  that  the  North,  upon  the  sober 
second  thought,  will  permit  the  dearly-bought 
results  of  the  Civil  War  to  be  nullified  by  any 
change  in  the  Constitution.  As  long  as  the 
Fifteenth  Amendment  stands,  the  rights  of  col- 
ored citizens  are  ultimately  secure.  There 
were  would-be  despots  in  England  after  the 
[118] 


Disfranchisement 

granting  of  Magna  Charta;  but  it  out- 
lived them  all,  and  the  liberties  of  the  English 
people  are  secure.  There  was  slavery  in  this 
land  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  yet 
the  faces  of  those  who  love  liberty  have  ever 
turned  to  that  immortal  document.  So  will 
the  Constitution  and  its  principles  outlive  the 
prejudices  which  would  seek  to  overthrow  it. 

What  colored  men  of  the  South  can  do  to 
secure  their  citizenship  to-day,  or  in  the  imme- 
diate future,  is  not  very  clear.  Their  utter- 
ances on  political  questions,  unless  they  be  to 
concede  away  the  political  rights  of  their  race, 
or  to  soothe  the  consciences  of  white  men  by 
suggesting  that  the  problem  is  insoluble  except 
by  some  slow  remedial  process  which  will  be- 
come effectual  only  in  the  distant  future,  are 
received  with  scant  respect — could  scarcely,  in- 
deed, be  otherwise  received,  without  a  voting 
constituency  to  back  them  up, — and  must  be 
cautiously  made,  lest  they  meet  an  actively  hos- 
tile reception.  But  there  are  many  colored 
men  at  the  North,  where  their  civil  and  polit- 


The  Negro  Problem 

ical  rights  in  the  main  are  respected.  There 
every  honest  man  has  a  vote,  which  he  may 
freely  cast,  and  which  is  reasonably  sure  to  be 
fairly  counted.  When  this  race  develops  a  suf- 
ficient power  of  combination,  under  adequate 
leadership, — and  there  are  signs  already  that 
this  time  is  near  at  hand, — the  Northern  vote 
can  be  wielded  irresistibly  for  the  defense  of 
the  rights  of  their  Southern  brethren. 

In  the  meantime  the  Northern  colored 
men  have  the  right  of  free  speech,  and 
they  should  never  cease  to  demand  their 
rights,  to  clamor  for  them,  to  guard  them 
jealously,  and  insistently  to  invoke  law  and 
public  sentiment  to  maintain  them.  He  who 
would  be  free  must  learn  to  protect  his  free- 
dom. Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty. 
He  who  would  be  respected  must  respect  him- 
self. The  best  friend  of  the  Negro  is  he  who 
would  rather  see,  within  the  borders  of  this  re- 
public one  million  free  citizens  of  that  race, 
equal  before  the  law,  than  ten  million  cringing 
serfs  existing  by  a  contemptuous  sufferance. 
A  race  that  is  willing  to  survive  upon  any  other 
terms  is  scarcely  worthy  of  consideration. 

[120] 


Disfranchiscment 

The  direct  remedy  for  the  disfranchisement 
of  the  Negro  lies  througfrpolitical  action^  One 
scarcely  sees  the  philosophy  of  distinguishing 
between  a  civil  and  a  political  right. J  But  the 
Supreme  Court  has  recognized  this  distinction 
and  has  designated  Congress  as  the  power  to 
right  a  political  wrong.  The  Fifteenth 
Amendment  gives  Congress  power  to  enforce 
its  provisions.  The  power  would  seem  to  be  in- 
herent in  government  itself;  but  anticipating 
that  the  enforcement  of  the  Amendment  might 
involve  difficulty,  they  made  the  superoroga- 
tory  declaration.  Moreover,  they  went  further, 
and  passed  laws  by  which  they  provided  for 
such  enforcement.  These  the  Supreme  Court 
has  so  far  declared  insufficient.  It  is  for  Con- 
gress to  make  more  la\vs.  It  is  for  colored  men 
and  for  whit£  men  who  arelibt  content  to^ee 
the  blood:15ought  results  of  the  Civil  War  nulli- 
fied, to  urge  and  direct  public  opinion  to  the 
point  where  it  will  demand  stringent  legislation 
to  enforce  the  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amend- 
ments.  This  demand  will  rest  in  law,  in  mor- 
als and  in  true  statesmanship;  no  difficulties 

[121] 


The  Negro  Problem 

attending  it  could  be  worse  than  the  present  ig- 
noble attitude  of  the  Nation  toward  its  own 
laws  and  its  own  ideals — without  courage  to 
enforce  them,  without  conscience  to  change 
them,  the  United  States  presents  the  spectacle 
of  a  Nation  drifting  aimlessly,  so  far  as  this 
vital,  National  problem  is  concerned,  upon  the 
sea  of  irresolution,  toward  the  maelstrom  of 
anarchy. 

The  right  of  Congress,  under  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment,  to  reduce  Southern  representa- 
tion can  hardly  be  disputed.  But  Congress 
has  a  simpler  and  more  direct  method  to  ac- 
complish the  same  end.  It  is  the  sole  judge  of 
the  qualifications  of  its  own  members,  and  the 
sole  judge  of  whether  any  member  presenting 
his  credentials  has  met  those  qualifications.  It 
can  refuse  to  seat  any  member  who  comes  from 
a  district  where  voters  have  been  disfranchised ; 
it  can  judge  for  itself  whether  this  has  been 
done,  and  there  is  no  appeal  from  its  decision. 

If,  when  it  has  passed  a  law,  any  Court  shall 
refuse  to  obey  its  behests,  it  can  impeach  the 
judges.  If  any  president  refuse  to  lend  the  ex- 
ecutive arm  of  the  government  to  the  enforce- 
[122] 


Disfranchisement 

ment  of  the  law,  it  can  impeach  the  president. 
No  such  extreme  measures  are  likely  to  be  nec- 
essary for  the  enforcement  of  the  Fourteenth 
and  Fifteenth  Amendments — and  the  Thir- 
teenth, which  is  also  threatened — but  they  are 
mentioned  as  showing  that  Congress  is  su- 
preme; and  Congress  proceeds,  the  House  di- 
rectly, the  Senate  indirectly,  from  the  people 
and  is  governed  by  public  opinion.  If  the  re- 
duction of  Southern  representation  were  to 
be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  bargain  by 
which  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  was  sur- 
rendered, then  it  might  prove  fatal  to 
liberty.  If  it  be  inflicted  as  a  punishment 
and  a  warning,  to  be  followed  by  more  drastic 
measures  if  not  sufficient,  it  would  serve  a  use- 
ful purpose.  The  Fifteenth  Amendment  de- 
clares that  the  right  to  vote  shall  not  be  denied 
or  abridged  on  account  of  color ;  and  any  meas- 
ure adopted  by  Congress  should  look  to  that 
end.  Only  as  the  power  to  injure  the  Negro 
in  Congress  is  reduced  thereby,  would  a  reduc- 
tion of  representation  protect  the  Negro ;  with- 
out other  measures  it  would  still  leave  him  in 


The  Negro  Problem 

the  hands  of  the  Southern  whites,  who  could 
safely  be  trusted  to  make  him  pay  for  their 
humiliation. 

Finally,  there  is,  somewhere  in  the  Universe 
a  "Power  that  works  for  righteousness,"  and 
that  leads  men  to  do  justice  to  one  another.  To 
this  power,  working  upon  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  men,  the  Negro  can  always  appeal. 
He  has  the  right  upon  his  side,  and  in  the  end 
the  right  will  prevail.  The  Negro  will,  in  time, 
attain  to  full  manhood  and  citizenship  through- 
out the  United  States.  No  better  guaranty  of 
this  is  needed  than  a  comparison  of  his  present 
with  his  past.  Toward  this  he  must  do  his 
part,  as  lies  within  his  power  and  his  opportun- 
ity. But  it  will  be,  after  all,  largely  a  white 
man's  conflict,  fought  out  in  the  forum  of  the 
public  conscience.  The  Negro,  though  eager 
enough  when  opportunity  offered,  had  compar- 
atively little  to  do  with  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
which  was  a  vastly  more  formidable  task  than 
will  be  the  enforcement  of  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment. 


The  Negro  and  the  Law 
By  WILFORD  H.  SMITH 

The  law  and  how  it  is  dodged  by  enactments  infringing 
upon  the  rights  guaranteed  to  the  freedmen  by  constitutional 
amendment.  A  powerful  plea  for  justice  for  the  Negro. 


WILFORD  H.   SMITH, 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  LAW 

The  colored  people  in  the  United  States  are 
indebted  to  the  beneficent  provisions  of  the 
1 3th,  I4th  and  I5th  amendments  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  for  the  establish- 
ment of  their  freedom  and  citizenship,  and  it 
is  to  these  mainly  they  must  look  for  the  main- 
tenance of  their  liberty  and  the  protection  of 
their  civil  rights.  These  amendments  followed 
close  upon  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  is- 
sued January  ist,  1863,  by  President  Lincoln, 
and  his  call  for  volunteers,  which  was  answered 
by  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  negro 
soldiers,  who,  during  three  years  of  military 
service,  helped  the  Union  arms  to  victory  at 
Appomattox.  Standing  in  the  shadow  of  the 
awful  calamity  and  deep  distress  of  the  civil 
war,  and  grateful  to  God  for  peace  and  victory 
over  the  rebellion,  the  American  people,  who 


The  Negro  Problem 

upheld  the  Union,  rose  to  the  sublime  heights 
of  doing  justice  to  the  former  slaves,  who  had 
grown  and  multiplied  with  the  country  from 
the  early  settlement  at  Jamestown.  It  looked 
like  an  effort  to  pay  them  back  for  their  years 
of  faithfulness  and  unrequited  toil,  by  not  only 
making  them  free  but  placing  them  on  equal 
footing  with  themselves  in  the  fundamental 
law.  Certainly,  they  intended  at  least,  that 
they  should  have  as  many  rights  under  the 
Constitution  as  are  given  to  white  naturalized 
citizens  who  come  to  this  country  from  all  the 
nations  of  Europe. 

The  1 3th  amendment  provides  that  neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a 
punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  in  the 
United  States  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jur- 
isdiction. ^ 

The  1 4th  amendment  provides  in  section  one, 
that  all  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the 
United  States  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 
thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and 


Negro  and  the  Law 

of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.  No  State 
shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall 
abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  nor  shall  any  State  de- 
prive any  person  of  life,  liberty  or  property 
without  due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any 
person  within  its  jurisdiction  the  equal  protect- 
ion of  the  law. 

The  1 5th  amendment  provides  that  the  right 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall 
not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States, 
or  by  any  State  on  account  of  race,  color,  or 
previous  condition  of  servitude. 

Chief  Justice  Waite,  in  the  case  of  the  United 
States  vs.  Cruikshank,  Q2nd  U.  S.  542,  said : — 

"The  I4th  amendment  prohibits  a  State  from 
denying  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction 
the  equal  protection  of  the  law.  The  equality 
of  the  rights  of  citizens  is  a  principle  of  repub- 
licanism. Every  Republican  government  is  in 
duty  bound  to  protect  all  its  citizens  in  the  en- 
joyment of  this  principle  if  within  its  power." 


The  Negro  Problem 

The  same  Chief  Justice,  in  the  case  of  the 
United  States  vs.  Reese,  92nd  U.  S.  214,  said: 

"The  1 5th  amendment  does  not  confer  the 
right  of  suffrage  upon  anyone.  It  prevents 
the  States  or  the  United  States  from  giving 
preference  in  this  particular  to  one  citizen  of 
the  United  States  over  another,  on  account  of 
race,  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 
Before  its  adoption  this  could  be  done.  It  was 
as  much  within  the  power  of  a  State  to  exclude 
citizens  of  the  United  States  from  voting  on 
account  of  race  and  color,  as  it  was  on  account 
of  age,  property  or  education.  Now  it  is  not." 

Notwithstanding  the  manifest  meaning  of 
equality  of  citizenship  contained  in  the  consti- 
tutional amendments,  it  was  found  necessary 
to  reinforce  them  by  a  civil  rights  law,  enacted 
by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  March 
ist,  1875,  entitled,  "An  Act  To  Protect  All 
Citizens  In  Their  Civil  and  Legal  Rights. "" 
Its  preamble  and  first  section  are  as  follows : — 
Preamble :  "Whereas,  it  is  essential  to  just  gov- 
ernment we  recognize  the  equality  of  all  men 


Negro  and  the  Law 

before  the  law,  and  hold  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
government  in  its  dealings  with  the  people  to 
mete  out  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all,  of  what- 
ever nativity,  race,  color  or  persuasion,  relig- 
ious or  political,  and  it  being  the  appropriate 
object  of  legislation  to  enact  great  fundamental 
principles  into  law,  therefore, 

"Be  it  enacted  that  all  persons  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  shall  be  en- 
titled to  the  full  and  equal  enjoyment  of  the  ac- 
commodations, advantages,  facilities  and  priv- 
ileges of  inns,  public  conveyances  on  land  or 
water,  theatres  and  other  places  of  public 
amusement,  subject  only  to  the  conditions  and 
limitations  established  by  law,  and  applicable 
alike  to  citizens  of  every  race  and  color,  regard- 
less to  any  previous  condition  of  servitude/' 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has 
held  this  salutary  law  unconstitutional  and  void 
as  applied  to  the  States,  but  binding  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  and  the  Territories  over 
which  the  government  of  the  United  States  has 
control. — Civil  Rights  cases  109  U.  S.  63. 


The  Negro  Problem 

Since  the  Supreme  Court's  ruling,  many  North- 
ern and  Western  States  have  enacted  similar 
civil  rights  laws.  Equality  of  citizenship  in  the 
United  States  suffered  a  severe  blow  when  the 
civil  rights  bill  was  struck  down  by  the  Su- 
preme Court.  The  colored  people  looked  upon 
the  decision  as  unsound,  and  prompted  by  race 
prejudice.  It  was  clear  that  the  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  were  adopted  to  secure  not 
only  their  freedom,  but  their  equal  civil  rights, 
and  by  ratifying  the  amendments  the  several 
States  conceded  to  the  Federal  government  the 
power  and  authority  of  maintaining  not  alone 
their  freedom,  but  their  equal  civil  rights  in  the 
United  States  as  well. 

The  Federal  Supreme  Court  put  a  narrow 
interpretation  on  the  Constitution,  rather  than 
a  liberal  one  in  favor  of  equal  rights ;  in  marked 
contrast  to  a  recent  decision  of  the  Appellate 
Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York 
in  a  civil  rights  case  arising  under  the  statute 
of  New  York,  Burks  vs.  Bosso,  81  N.  Y.  Supp, 
384.  The  New  York  Supreme  Court  held  this 


Negro  and  the  Law 

language:  "The  liberation  of  the  slaves,  and 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  was  supple- 
mented by  the  amendments  to  the  national  Con- 
stitution according  to  the  colored  people  their 
civil  rights  and  investing  them  with  citizenship. 
The  amendments  indicated  a  clear  purpose  to 
secure  equal  rights  to  the  black  people  with  the 
white  race.  The  legislative  intent  must  con- 
trol, and  that  may  be  gathered  from  circum- 
stances inducing  the  act.  Where  that  intent 
has  been  unvaryingly  manifested  in  one  direct- 
ion, and  that  in  the  prohibition  of  any  discrim- 
ination against  a  large  class  of  citizens,  the 
courts  should  not  hesitate  to  keep  apace  with 
legislative  purpose.  We  must  remember  that 
the  slightest  trace  of  African  blood  places  a 
man  under  the  ban  of  belonging  to  that  race. 
However  respectable  and  whatever  he  may  be, 
he  is  ostracized  socially,  and  when  the  policy  of 
the  law  is  against  extending  the  prohibition  of 
his  civil  rights,  a  liberal,  rather  than  a  narrow 
interpretation  should  be  given  to  enactments 
evidencing  the  intent  to  eliminate  race  dis- 

[133] 


The  Negro  Problem 

crimination,  as  far  as  that  can  be  accomplished 
by  legislative  intervention." 

The  statutory  enactments  and  recent  Consti- 
tutions of  most  of  the  former  slave-holding 
States,  show  that  they  have  never  looked  with 
favor  upon  the  amendments  to  the  national 
Constitution.  They  rather  regard  them  as  war 
measures  designed  by  the  North  to  humiliate 
and  punish  the  people  of  those  States  lately  in 
rebellion.  While  in  the  main  they  accept  the 
1 3th  amendment  and  concede  that  the  negro 
should  have  personal  freedom,  they  have  never 
been  altogether  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  and 
purposes  of  the  I4th  and  I5th  amendments. 
There  seems  to  be  a  distinct  and  positive  fear 
on  the  part  of  the  South  that  if  the  negro  is 
given  a  man's  chance,  and  is  accorded  equal 
civil  rights  with  white  men  on  the  juries,  on 
common  carriers,  and  in  public  places,  that  it 
will  in  some  way  lead  to  his  social  equality. 
This  fallacious  argument  is  persisted  in,  not- 
withstanding the  well-known  fact,  that  al- 
though the  Jews  are  the  leaders  in  the  wealth 

[134] 


Negro  and  the  Law 

and  commerce  of  the  South,  their  civil  equality 
has  never,  except  in  rare  instances,  led  to  any 
social  intermingling  with  the  Southern  whites. 

Holding  these  views  the  Southern  people  in 
1875,  found  means  to  overcome  the  Republican 
majorities  in  all  the  re-constructed  States,  and 
practically  drove  the  negroes  out  of  the  law- 
making  bodies  of  all  those  States.  So  that, 
now  in  all  the  Southern  States,  so  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  there  is  not  one  negro  sitting  as  a 
representative  in  any  of  the  law-making  bodies. 
The  next  step  was  to  deny  them  representation 
on  the  grand  and  petit  juries  in  the  State 
courts,  through  Jury  Commissioners,  who  ex- 
cluded them  from  the  panels. 

To  be  taxed  without  representation  is  a  ser- 
ious injustice  in  a  republic  whose  foundations 
are  laid  upon  the  principle  of  "no  taxation 
without  representation."  But  serious  as  this 
phase  of  the  case  must  appear,  infinitely  more 
serious  is  the  case  when  we  consider  the  fact 
that  they  are  likewise  excluded  from  the  grand 
and  petit  juries  in  all  the  State  courts,  with  the 

[1351 


The  Negro  Problem 

fewest  and  rarest  exceptions.  The  courts  sit 
in  judgment  upon  their  lives  and  liberties,  and 
dispose  of  their  dearest  earthly  possessions. 
They  are  not  entitled  to  life,  liberty  or  property 
if  the  courts  should  decide  they  are  not,  and  yet 
in  this  all-important  tribunal  they  are  denied 
all  voice,  except  as  parties  and  witnesses,  and 
here  and  there  a  negro  lawyer  is  permitted  to 
appear.  One  vote  on  the  grand  jury  might 
prevent  an  indictment,  and  save  disgrace  and 
the  risk  of  public  trial;  while  one  vote  on  the 
petit  jury  might  save  a  life  or  a  term  of  im- 
prisonment, for  an  innocent  person  pursued 
and  persecuted  by  powerful  enemies. 

With  no  voice  in  the  making  of  the  laws, 
which  they  are  bound  to  obey,  nor  in  their  ad- 
ministration by  the  courts,  thus  tied  and  help- 
less, the  negroes  were  proscribed  by  a  system 
of  legal  enactments  intended  to  wholly  nullify 
the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  war  amendments  to 
the  national  organic  law.  This  crusade  was 
begun  by  enacting  a  system  of  Jim-Crow  car 
laws  in  all  the  Southern  States,  so  that  now  the 
[136] 


Negro  and  the  Law 

Jim-Crow  cars  run  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
into  the  national  capital.  They  are  called, 
'Separate  Car  Laws/'  providing  for  separate 
but  equal  accommodations  for  whites  and  ne- 
groes. Though  fair  on  their  face,  they  are 
everywhere  known  to  discriminate  against  the 
colored  people  in  their  administration,  and  were 
intended  to  humiliate  and  degrade  them. 

Setting  apart  separate  places  for  negroes  on 
public  carriers,  is  just  as  repugnant  to  the  spirit 
and  intent  of  the  national  Constitution,  as 
would  be  a  law  compelling  all  Jews  or  all 
Roman  Catholics  to  occupy  compartments 
specially  set  apart  for  them  on  account  of  their 
religion.  If  these  statutes  were  not  especially 
aimed  at  the  negro,  an  arrangement  of  differ- 
ent fares,  such  as  first,  second  and  third  classes, 
would  have  been  far  more  just  and  preferable, 
and  would  have  enabled  the  refined  and  exclus- 
ive of  both  races  to  avoid  the  presence  of  the 
coarse  and  vicious,  by  selecting  the  more  ex- 
pensive fare.  Still  these  laws  have  been  up- 
held by  the  Federal  Supreme  Court,  and  pro- 

[137] 


The  Negro  Problem 

nounced  not  in  conflict  with  the  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

City  ordinances  providing  for  separate  street 
cars  for  white  and  colored  passengers,  are  in 
force  in  Atlanta,  New  Orleans,  and  in  nearly 
all  the  cities  of  the  South.  In  all  the  principal 
cities  of  Alabama,  a  certain  portion  of  the 
street  cars  is  set  apart  and  marked  for  negroes. 
The  conductors  are  clothed  with  the  authority 
of  determining  to  what  race  the  passenger  be- 
longs, and  may  arrest  persons  refusing  to  obey 
his  orders.  It  is  often  a  very  difficult  task  to 
determine  to  what  race  some  passengers  belong, 
there  being  so  many  dark- white  persons  that 
might  be  mistaken  for  negroes,  and  persons 
known  as  negroes  who  are  as  fair  as  any  white 
person. 

In  the  State  of  Georgia,  a  negro  cannot  pur- 
chase a  berth  in  a  sleeping  car,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, no  matter  where  his  destination, 
owing  to  the  following  statute  enacted  Decem- 
ber 2Oth,  1899 :  "Sleeping  car  companies,  and 
all  railroads  operating  sleeping  cars  in  this 


Negro  and  the  Law 

State,  shall  separate  the  white  and  colored 
races,  and  shall  not  permit  them  to  occupy  the 
same  compartment;  provided,  that  nothing  in 
this  act  shall  be  construed  to  compel  sleeping 
car  companies  or  railroads  operating  sleeping 
cars,  to  carry  persons  of  color  in  sleeping  or 
parlor  cars;  provided  also,  that  this  act  shall 
not  apply  to  colored  nurses  or  servants  travel- 
ling with  their  employers."  The  violation  of 
this  statute  is  a  misdemeanor. 

Article  45,  section  639  of  the  statutes  of 
Georgia,  1895,  makes  it  a  misdemeanor  to  keep 
or  confine  white  and  colored  convicts  together, 
or  to  chain  them  together  going  to  and  from 
work.  There  is  also  a  statute  in  Georgia  re- 
quiring that  a  separate  tax  list  be  kept  in  every 
county,  of  the  property  of  white  and  colored 
persons.  Both  races  generally  approve  the 
laws  prohibiting  inter-marriages  between 
white  and  colored  persons,  which  seem  to  be 
uniform  throughout  the  Southern  States. 

Florida  seems  to  have  gone  a  step  further 
than  the  rest,  and  by  sections  2612  and  2613, 

[139] 


The  Negro  Problem 

Revised  Statutes,  1892,  it  is  made  a  misde- 
meanor for  a  white  man  and  a  colored  woman, 
and  vice  versa,  to  sleep  under  the  same  roof  at 
night,  occupying  the  same  room.  Florida  is 
entitled  to  credit,  however,  for  a  statute  making 
marriages  between  white  and  colored  persons 
prior  to  1866,  where  they  continue  to  live  to- 
gether, valid  and  binding  to  all  intents  and 
purposes. 

In  addition  to  this  forced  separation  of  the 
races  by  law,  "from  the  cradle  to  the  grave," 
there  is  yet  a  sadder  and  more  deplorable  sepa- 
ration, in  the  almost  universal  disposition  to 
leave  the  negroes  wholly  and  severely  to  them- 
selves in  their  home  life  and  religious  life,  by 
the  white  Christian  people  of  the  South,  dis- 
tinctly manifesting  no  concern  in  their  moral 
and  religious  development. 

In  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  and  all  the 
Gulf  States  (except  Texas,  where  the  farm  la- 
bor is  mostly  white)  the  negroes  on  the  farms 
are  held  by  a  system  of  laws  which  prevents 
them  from  leaving  the  plantations,  and  enables 
[140] 


Negro  and  the  Law 

the  landlord  to  punish  them  by  fine  and  impris- 
onment for  any  alleged  breach  of  contract.  In 
the  administration  of  these  laws  they  are  vir- 
tually made  slaves  to  the  landlord,  as  long  as 
they  are  in  debt,  and  it  is  wholly  in  the  power 
of  the  landlord  to  forever  keep  them  in  debt. 

By  section  355,  of  the  Criminal  Code  of 
South  Carolina,  1902,  it  is  made  a  misdemeanor 
to  violate  a  contract  to  work  and  labor  on  a 
farm,  subject  to  a  fine  of  not  less  than  five  dol- 
lars, and  more  than  one  hundred  dollars,  or  im- 
prisonment for  not  less  than  ten  days,  or  more 
than  thirty.  It  is  also  made  a  misdemeanor  to 
employ  any  farm  laborer  while  under  contract 
with  another,  or  to  persuade  or  entice  a  farm 
laborer  to  leave  his  employer. 

The  Georgia  laws  are  a  little  stronger  in  this 
respect  than  the  laws  of  the  other  States.  By 
section  121,  of  the  Code  of  Georgia,  1895,  it 
is  provided,  "that  if  any  person  shall,  by  offer- 
ing higher  wages,  or  in  any  other  way  entice, 
persuade  or  decoy,  or  attempt  to  entice,  per- 
suade or  decoy  any  farm  laborer  from  his  em- 
[141] 


The  Negro  Problem 

ployer,  he  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor." 
Again,  by  act  of  December  I7th,  1901,  the 
Georgia  Legislature  passed  a  law  making  it  an 
offense  to  rent  land,  or  furnish  land  to  a  farm 
laborer,  after  he  has  contracted  with  another 
landlord,  without  first  obtaining  the  consent  of 
the  first  landlord. 

The  presence  of  large  numbers  of  negroes  in 
the  towns  and  cities  of  the  South  and  North 
can  be  accounted  for  by  such  laws  as  the  above, 
administered  by  ignorant  country  magistrates, 
in  nearly  all  cases  the  pliant  tools  of  the  land- 
lords. 

J  The  boldest  and  most  open  violation  of  the 
negro's  rights  under  the  Federal  Constitution, 
was  the  enactment  of  the  grand-father  clauses, 
and  understanding  clauses  in  the  new  Consti- 
tutions of  Louisiana,  Alabama,  the  Car- 
olinas,  and  Virginia,  which  have  had  the 
effect  to  deprive  the  great  body  of  them  of 
the  right  to  vote  in  those  States,  for  no  other 
reason  than  their  race  and  color.  Although 
thus  depriving  him  of  his  vote,  and  all  voice  in 


Negro  and  the  Law 

the  State  governments  at  the  South,  in  all  of 
them  his  property  is  taxed  to  pay  pensions  to 
Confederate  soldiers,  who  fought  to  continue 
him  in  slavery.  The  fact  is,  the  franchise  had 
been  practically  taken  from  the  negroes  in  the 
South  since  1876,  by  admitted  fraudulent  meth- 
ods and  intimidation  in  elections,  but  it  was 
not  until  late  years  that  this  nullification  of  the 
amendments  was  enacted  into  State  Consti- 
tutions. 

This  brings  me  to  the  proposition  that  it  is 
mainly  in  the  enforcement,  or  the  administra- 
tion of  the  laws,  however  fair  and  equal  they 
may  appear  on  their  face,  that  the  constitutional 
rights  of  negroes  to  equal  protection  and  treat- 
ment are  denied,  not  only  in  the  South  but  in 
many  Northern  States.  There  are  noble  ex- 
ceptions, however,  of  high-toned  honorable 
gentlemen  on  the  bench  as  trial  judges,  and 
Supreme  Court  justices,  in  the  South,  who 
without  regard  to  consequences  have  stood  for 
fairness  and  justice  to  the  negro  in  their  courts. 
[143] 


The  Negro  Problem 

With  the  population  of  the  South  distinctly 
divided  into  two  classes,  not  the  rich  and  poor, 
not  the  educated  and  ignorant,  not  the  moral 
and  immoral,  but  simply  whites  and  blacks,  all 
negroes  being  generally  regarded  as  inferior 
and  not  entitled  to  the  same  rights  as  any  white 
person,  it  is  bound  to  be  a  difficult  matter  to  ob- 
tain fair  and  just  results,  when  there  is  any 
sort  of  conflict  between  the  races.  The  negro 
realizes  this,  and  knows  that  he  is  at  an  im- 
mense disadvantage  when  he  is  forced  to  liti- 
gate with  a  white  man  in  civil  matters,  and 
much  more  so  when  he  is  charged  with  a  crime 
by  a  white  person. 

The  juries  in  the  South  almost  always  reject 
the  testimony  of  any  number  of  negroes  if 
given  in  opposition  to  that  of  a  white  witness,, 
and  this  is  true  in  many  instances,  no  matter 
how  unreasonable  or  inconsistent  the  testimony 
of  the  white  witness  may  be.  Jurors  in  the- 
South  have  been  heard  to  admit  that  they 
would  be  socially  ostracized  if  they  brought  in 
[144] 


Negro  and  the  Law 

a  verdict  upon  colored  testimony  alone,  in  op- 
position to  white  testimony. 

Perhaps  it  can  be  best  explained  how  the  ne- 
gro fares  in  the  courts  of  the  South  by  giving 
a  few  cases  showing  how  justice  is  adminis- 
tered to  him : 

A  negro  boy  was  brought  to  the  bar  for  trial 
before  a  police  magistrate,  in  a  Southern  cap- 
ital city,  charged  with  assault  and  battery  on  a 
white  boy  about  the  same  age,  but  a  little  lar- 
ger. The  testimony  showed  that  the  white 
boy  had  beat  the  negro  on  several  previous  oc- 
casions as  he  passed  on  his  way  to  school,  and 
each  time  the  negro  showed  no  disposition  to 
fight.  On  the  morning  of  the  charge  he  at- 
tacked the  negro  and  attempted  to  cut  him  with 
a  knife,  because  the  negro's  mother  had  re- 
ported to  the  white  boy's  mother  the  previous 
assaults,  and  asked  her  to  chastise  him.  The 
colored  boy  in  trying  to  keep  from  being  cut 
was  compelled  to  fight,  and  got  the  advantage 
and  threw  the  white  boy  down  and  blacked  his 
eyes.  The  magistrate  on  this  evidence  fined 


The  Negro  Problem 

the  negro  twenty-five  dollars.  The  mother  of 
the  negro  having  once  been  a  servant  for  the 
magistrate,  found  courage  to  rise,  and  said: 
"Jedge,  yo  I-Ioner,  can  I  speak?"  The  magis- 
trate replied,  "Yes,  go  on."  She  said,  "Well, 
Jedge,  my  boy  is  ben  tellin'  me  about  dis  white 
boy  meddlin'  him  on  his  way  to  school,  but  I 
would  not  let  my  boy  fight,  'cause  I  'tole  him 
he  couldn't  git  no  jestice  in  law.  But  he  had 
no  other  way  to  go  to  school  'ceptin'  gwine  dat 
way;  and  den  jedge,  dis  white  chile  is  bigger 
an  my  chile  and  jumped  on  him  fust  with  a 
knife  for  nothin',  befo'  my  boy  tetched  him. 
Jedge  I  am  a  po'  woman,  and  washes  fur  a 
livin',  and  ain't  got  nobody  to  help  me,  and 
can't  raise  all  dat  money.  I  think  dat  white 
boy's  mammy  ought  to  pay  half  of  dis  fine." 
By  this  time  her  voice  had  become  stifled  by 
her  tears.  The  judge  turned  to  the  mother  of 
the  white  boy  and  said,  "Madam,  are  you  wil- 
ling to  pay  half  of  this  fine?"  She  answered, 
"Yes,  Your  Honor."  And  the  judge  changed 
the  order  to  a  fine  of  $12.50  each,  against  both 
boys. 


Negro  and  the  Law 

A  celebrated  case  in  point  reported  in  the 
books  is,  George  Maury  vs.  The  State  of  Miss., 
68  Miss.  605.  I  reproduce  the  court's  state- 
ment of  the  case : — "This  is  an  appeal  from  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Kemper  County.  Appellant 
was  convicted  of  murder  and  sentenced  to  im- 
prisonment for  life.  He  appears  in  this  court 
without  counsel.  The  facts  are  briefly  these: 
One,  Nicholson,  a  white  man,  accompanied  by 
his  little  son  seven  years  old,  was  driving  an 
ox  team  along  a  public  road;  he  had  occasion 
to  stop  and  the  oxen  were  driven  by  his  son; 
defendant,  a  negro,  also  in  an  ox  wagon,  was 
going  along  the  road  in  an  opposite  direction, 
and  met  Nicholson's  wagon  in  charge  of  the 
little  boy.  It  was  after  dark,  and  when  the 
wagons  met,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
Nicholson,  the  defendant  insultingly  demanded 
of  the  boy  to  give  the  way,  and  cursed  and 
abused  him.  Nicholson,  hearing  the  colloquy, 
hurried  to  the  scene  and  a  fight  ensued  between 
him  and  Maury,  in  which  the  latter  got  the  ad- 
vantage, inflicting  severe  blows  upon  Nichol- 
[147] 


The  Negro  Problem 

son.  This  occurred  on  Thursday,  and  on  the 
following  Sunday  night,  Nicholson,  in  com- 
pany with  eleven  or  twelve  of  his  friends,  rode 
to  the  farm  of  Maury,  and  after  sending  sev- 
eral of  their  number  to  ascertain  if  he  was  at 
home,  rode  rapidly  into  his  yard  and  called  for 
him.  Not  finding  him,  they  proceeded  to 
search  the  premises,  and  found  several  colored 
men  shut  up  in  the  smoke  house,  the  door  of 
which  some  of  the  searching  party  had  broken 
open.  Maury,  the  accused,  was  not  found 
there,  and  about  that  time  some  one  called  out, 
"Here  is  George."  Some  of  the  party  then 
started  in  the  direction  of  the  cotton  house 
from  which  the  voice  proceeded,  when  a  volley 
was  fired  from  it,  and  two  of  the  searching 
party  were  killed,  one  of  whom  was  the  son  of 
the  former  owner  of  the  defendant,  and  the 
other  a  brother-in-law  of  Nicholson.  The 
members  of  the  raiding  party  testified  that  their 
purpose  in  going  to  the  home  of  the  defendant 
was  merely  to  arrest  him.  It  was,  however, 
shown  that  Nicholson,  immediately  after  the 
[148] 


Negro  and  the  Law 

fight  on  Thursday,  informed  Cobb,  and  Cobb 
between  Thursday  and  Sunday  night  collected 
the  men  who  joined  in  the  raid.  No  affidavit 
for  the  arrest  of  Maury  had  been  made,  and 
none  of  the  party  had  any  warrant,  or  made 
any  announcement  to  the  defendant  or  his  fam- 
ily, of  the  object  of  their  visit.  The  accused 
who  testified  in  his  own  behalf,  denied  that  he 
was  at  home  at  the  time  of  the  shooting,  and 
says  he  fled  before  the  raiding  party  arrived. 
He  also  contradicted  Nicholson  in  his  account 
of  the  difficulty  with  him,  and  denies  that  he 
spoke  harshly  to  the  child."  Chief  Justice 
Campbell,  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  court 
said,  "It  is  inconceivable  that  the  crime  of 
murder  is  predicable  of  the  facts  disclosed  by 
the  evidence  in  this  case.  The  time  and  place 
and  circumstances  of  the  killing  forbid  any 
such  conclusion  as  a  verdict  of  guilty  of  mur- 
der." The  judgment  of  the  trial  court  was 
reversed. 

This  same  Chief  Justice,  in  the  case  of  Mon- 
roe vs.  Mississippi,  71  Miss.  201,  where  a  ne- 
[149] 


The  Negro  Problem 

gro  was  convicted  of  rape,  makes  use  of  the  fol- 
lowing brave  and  noble  language,  reversing 
the  case  on  the  ground  of  the  insufficiency  of 
the  evidence:  "We  might  greatly  lighten  our 
labors  by  deferring  in  all  cases  to  the  verdict 
approved  by  the  presiding  judge  as  to  the  facts, 
but  our  duty  is  to  administer  justice  without 
respect  of  persons,  and  do  equal  right  to  the 
poor  and  the  rich.  Hence  the  disposition, 
which  we  are  not  ashamed  to  confess  we  have, 
to  guard  jealously  the  rights  of  the  poor  and 
friendless  and  despised,  and  to  be  astute  as  far 
as  we  properly  may,  against  injustice,  whether 
proceeding  from  wilfulness  or  indifference." 

The  country  has  produced  no  abler  jurist, 
nor  the  South  no  greater  man  than  Ex-Chief 
Justice  Campbell  of  Mississippi.  If  the  coun- 
sel of  such  men  as  he  and  Chief  Justice  Garret 
of  the  Court  of  Civil  Appeals  of  Texas,  could 
obtain  in  the  South,  there  would  be  no  prob- 
lem between  the  races.  All  would  be  contented 
because  justice  would  be  administered  to  the 
whites  and  blacks  alike. 


Negro  and  the  Law 

In  the  administration  of  the  suffrage  sections 
under  the  new  Constitutions  of  the  South  by 
the  partisan  boards  of  registrars,  the  same  dis- 
crimination against  negroes  was  practiced. 
Their  methods  are  of  more  or  less  interest. 
The  plan  was  to  exclude  all  negroes  from  the 
electorate  without  excluding  a  single  white 
man.  Under  the  Alabama  Constitution,  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Civil  War,  either  on  the  Federal  or 
Confederate  side,  is  entitled  to  qualification. 
When  a  negro  goes  up  to  register  as  a  soldier 
he  is  asked  for  his  discharge.  When  he  pre- 
sents it  he  is  asked,  "How  do  we  know  that  you 
are  the  man  whose  name  is  written  in  this  dis- 
charge? Bring  us  two  white  men  whom  we 
know  and  who  will,  swear  that  you  have  not 
found  this  paper,  and  that  they  know  that  you 
were  a  soldier  in  the  company  and  regiment  in 
which  you  claim  to  have  been."  This,  of 
course,  could  not  be  done,  and  the  ex-soldier 
who  risked  his  life  for  the  Union  is  denied  the 
right  to  vote. 


The  Negro  Problem 

The  same  Constitution  provides  that  if  not 
a  soldier  or  the  legal  descendant  of  one,  an 
elector  must  be  of  good  character  and  under- 
stand the  duties  and  obligations  of  citizenship 
under  a  Republican  form  of  government. 
When  a  negro  claims  qualifications  under  the 
good  character  and  understanding  clauses  he 
is  put  through  an  examination  similar  to  the 
following : 

"What  is  a  republican  form  of  government? 

What  is  a  limited  monarchy? 

What  islands  did  the  United  States  come 
into  possession  of  by  the  Spanish-American 
War? 

What  is  the  difference  between  Jeffersonian 
Democracy  and  Calhoun  principles,  as  com- 
pared to  the  Monroe  Doctrine? 

If  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  cut,  what  will  be 
the  effect  if  the  Pacific  Ocean  is  two  feet  higher 
than  the  Atlantic?"  Should  these  questions 
be  answered  satisfactorily,  the  negro  must  still 
produce  two  white  men  known  to  the  registrars 
to  testify  to  his  good  character.  A  remarkable 


Negro  and  the  Law 

exception  in  the  treatment  of  negroes  by  the 
registrars  of  Dallas  county;  Alabama,  is  shown 
in  the  following  account  taken  from  the  Mont- 
gomery Advertizer: — 

"An  old  negro  barber  by  the  name  of  Ed- 
ward E.  Harris,  stepped  in  before  the  regis- 
trars, hat  in  hand,  humble  and  polite,  with  a 
kindly  smile  on  his  face.  He  respectfully 
asked  to  be  registered.  He  signed  the  appli- 
cation and  waited  a  few  minutes  until  the  reg- 
istrars had  disposed  of  some  other  matters,  and 
being  impressed  with  his  respectful  bearing, 
some  member  of  the  board  commenced  to  ask 
a  few  questions.  The  old  man  told  his  story 
in  a  straight  forward  manner.  He  said: 
"Gentlemen,  I  am  getting  to  be  a  pretty  old 
man.  I  was  born  here  in  the  South,  and  I  fol- 
lowed my  young  master  through  all  of  the  cam- 
paigns in  Virginia,  when  Mas'  Bob  Lee  made 
it  so  warm  for  the  Yankees.  But  our  luck  left 
us  at  Gettysburg.  The  Yankees  got  around 
in  our  rear  there,  and  I  got  a  bullet  in  the  back 
of  my  head,  and  one  in  my  leg  before  I  got  out 

[153] 


The  Negro  Problem 

of  that  scrape.  But  I  was  not  hurt  much,  and 
my  greatest  anxiety  was  about  my  young  mas- 
ter, Mr.  John  Holly,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Bur  Rifles,  i8th  Mississippi.  He  wras  a  private 
and  enlisted  at  Jackson,  Miss. 

"He  could  not  be  found  the  first  day;  I 
looked  all  among  the  dead  on  the  battle  field 
for  him  and  he  was  not  there.  Next  day  I  got 
a  permit  to  go  through  the  hospitals,  and  I 
looked  into  the  face  of  every  soldier  closely,  in 
the  hope  of  finding  my  young  master.  After 
many  hours  of  searching  I  found  him,  but  he 
was  dangerously  wounded.  I  stayed  by  his 
side,  wounded  as  I  wras,  for  three  long  weeks, 
but  he  gradually  grew  worse  and  then  he  died. 
I  went  out  with  the  body  and  saw  it  buried  as 
decently  as  I  could,  and  then  I  went  back  to 
Jackson  and  told  the  young  mistress  how  brave 
he  was  in  battle,  how  good  he  was  to  me,  and 
told  her  all  the  words  he  had  sent  her,  as  he  lay 
there  on  that  rude  cot  in  the  hospital.  That  is 
my  record  as  a  Confederate  soldier,  and  if  you 
gentlemen  care  to  give  me  a  certificate  of  reg- 


Negro  and  the  Law 

istration,  I  would  be  much  obliged  to  you.'' 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  old  Ed.  Harris  got  his 
certificate. 

It  is  insisted  upon  by  the  leaders  of  public 
opinion  at  the  South,  that  negroes  should  not 
be  given  equal  political  and  civil  rights  with 
white  men,  defined  by  law  and  enforceable  by 
the  courts;  but  that  they  should  be  content  to 
strive  to  deserve  the  good  wishes  and  friendly 
feeling  of  the  whites,  and  if  the  South  is  let 
alone,  they  will  see  to  it  that  negroes  get  be- 
coming treatment. 

While  there  is  a  large  number  of  the  high- 
toned,  chivalrous  element  of  the  old  master 
class  yet  living,  who  would  stand  by  the  negro 
and  not  permit  him  to  be  wronged  if  they 
could  prevent  it,  yet  they  are  powerless  to  con- 
trol the  great  mass  of  the  poor  whites  who  are 
most  bitter  in  their  prejudices  against  the  ne- 
gro. They  should  also  bear  in  mind  that  the 
old  master  class  is  rapidly  passing  way,  and 
that  there  is  constantly  an  influx  of  foreigners 
to  the  South,  and  in  less  than  fifty  years  the 

[155] 


The  Negro  Problem 

Italians,  or  some  other  foreign  nationalityr 
may  be  the  ruling  class  in  all  the  Southern 
States;  and  the  negro,  deprived  of  all  political 
and  civil  rights  by  the  Constitution  and  laws, 
would  be  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  a  people  with- 
out sympathy  for  him. 

In  order  to  show  the  fallacy  and  the  wrong 
and  injustice  of  this  doctrine,  and  how  help- 
lessly exposed  it  leaves  the  negro  to  the  preju- 
dices of  the  poor  whites,  I  relate  a  tragedy  in 
the  life  of  a  friend  of  mine,  who  was  well 
known  and  respected  in  the  town  of  Rayville, 
Louisiana. 

Sewall  Smith,  for  many  years  ran  the  lead- 
ing barber  shop  for  whites  in  the  town  of  Ray- 
ville, and  was  well-liked  and  respected  by  the 
leading  white  men  of  the  entire  parish.  At  the 
suggestion  of  his  customers  he  bought  Louis- 
iana state  lands  while  they  were  cheap,  before 
the  railroad  was  put  through  between  Vicks- 
burg  and  Shreveport;  and  as  the  road  passed 
near  his  lands  he  was  thereby  made  a  rich  man, 
as  wealth  goes  in  those  parts.  His  good  for- 


Negro  and  the  Law 

tune,  however,  did  not  swell  his  head  and  he 
remained  the  same  to  his  friends.  He  became 
so  useful  in  his  parish  that  there  was  never  a 
public  gathering  of  the  leading  white  business 
men  that  he  was  not  invited  to  it,  and  he  was 
always  on  the  delegations  to  all  the  levee  or 
river  conventions  sent  from  his  parish.  He 
was  chosen  to  such  places  by  white  men  exclus- 
ively ;  and  in  his  own  town  he  was  as  safe  from 
wrong  or  injury,  on  account  of  his  race  or 
color,  as  any  white  man. 

After  the  trains  began  to  run  through  Ray- 
ville,  on  the  Shreveport  road,  he  had  occasion 
to  visit  the  town  of  Ruston,  in  another  parish 
some  miles  in  the  interior,  and  as  he  got  off  at 
the  depot,  a  barefoot,  poor  white  boy  asked  to 
carry  his  satchel.  Smith  was  a  fine  looking 
mulatto,  dressed  well,  and  could  have  easily 
been  taken  for  a  white  man,  and  the  boy  might 
not  have  known  at  the  time  he  was  a  negro. 
When  he  arrived  at  his  stopping  place  he  gave 
the  boy  such  a  large  coin  that  he  asked  permis- 
sion to  take  his  satchel  back  to  the  train  on  the 

[157] 


The  Negro  Problem 

following  day  when  he  was  to  return.  The 
next  day  the  boy  came  for  the  satchel,  and  they 
had  nearly  reached  the  depot  about  train  time, 
when  they  passed  a  saloon  where  a  crowd  of 
poor  whites  sat  on  boxes  whittling  sticks.  The 
sight  of  a  negro  having  a  white  boy  carrying 
his  satchel  quite  enraged  them,  and  after  curs- 
ing and  abusing  Smith  and  the  boy,  they  under- 
took to  kick  and  assault  Smith.  Smith  de- 
fended himself.  The  result  was  a  shooting  af- 
fair, in  which  Smith  shot  two  or  three  of  them 
and  was  himself  shot.  The  train  rolled  up 
while  the  fight  was  in  progress,  and  without 
inquiring  the  cause  or  asking  any  questions- 
whatever,  fully  a  hundred  white  men  jumped 
off  the  train  and  riddled  Smith  with  bullets. 
That  was  the  end  of  it.  Nobody  was  indicted 
or  even  arrested  for  killing  an  insolent  "nigger" 
that  did  not  keep  his  place.  That  is  the  way 
the  affair  was  regarded  in  Ruston.  Of  course, 
the  people  of  Rayville  very  much  regretted  it, 
but  they  could  not  do  anything,  and  could  not 
afford  to  defend  the  rights  of  a  negro  against 
[158] 


Negro  and  the  Law 

white  men  under  such  circumstances,  and  the 
matter  dropped. 

I  have  preferred  not  to  mention  the  numer- 
ous ways  and  many  instances  in  which  the 
rights  of  negroes  are  denied  in  public  places, 
and  on  the  common  carriers  in  the  South, 
under  circumstances  very  humiliating  and  de- 
grading. Nor  have  I  cared  to  refer  to  the  bar- 
barous and  inhuman  prison  systems  of  the 
South,  that  are  worse  than  anything  the  imag- 
ination can  conceive  in  a  civilized  and  Christ- 
ian land,  as  shown  by  reports  of  legislative 
committees. 

If  the  negro  can  secure  a  fair  and  impartial 
trial  in  the  courts,  and  can  be  secure  in  his  life 
and  liberty  and  property,  so  as  not  to  be  de- 
prived of  them  except  by  due  process  of  law, 
and  can  have  a  voice  in  the  making  and  admin- 
istration of  the  laws,  he  shall  have  gone  a  great 
way  in  the  South.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  public 
opinion  can  be  awakened  to  this  extent,  and 
that  it  may  assist  him  to  attain  that  end. 

[159] 


The  Characteristics  of  the  Negro  People 
By  H.  T.  KEALING 

A  frank  statement  of  the  virtues  and  failings  of  the  race, 
indicating  very  clearly  the  evils  which  must  be  overcome, 
and  the  good  which  must  be  developed,  if  success  is  really  to 
attend  the  effort  to  uplift  them. 


H.  T.   KEALING. 


THE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 
NEGRO  PEOPLE 

The  characteristics  of  the  Negro  are  of  two 
kinds — the  inborn  and  the  inbred.  As  they 
reveal  themselves  to  us,  this  distinction  may 
not  be  seen,  but  it  exists.  Inborn  qualities  are 
ineradicable;  they  belong  to  the  blood;  they 
constitute  individuality;  they  are  independent, 
or  nearly  so,  of  time  and  habitat.  Inbred  qual- 
ities are  acquired,  and  are  the  result  of  exper- 
ience. They  may  be  overcome  by  a  reversal 
of  the  process  which  created  them.  The  funda- 
mental, or  inborn,  characteristics  of  the  Negro 
may  be  found  in  the  African,  as  well  as  the 
American,  Negro ;  but  the  inbred  characteristics 
of  the  latter  belong  to  the  American  life  alone. 

There  is  but  one  human  nature,  made  up  of 
constituent  elements  the  same  in  all  men,  and 
racial  or  national  differences  arise  from  the 


The  Negro  Problem 

predominance  of  one  or  another  element  in  this 
or  that  race.  It  is  a  question  of  proportion. 
The  Negro  is  not  a  Caucasian,  not  a  Chinese, 
not  an  Indian ;  though  no  psychological  quality 
in  the  one  is  absent  from  the  other.  The  same 
moral  sense,  called  conscience;  the  same  love 
of  harmony  in  color  or  in  sound;  the  same 
pleasure  in  acquiring  knowledge ;  the  same  love 
of  truth  in  word,  or  of  fitness  in  relation;  the 
same  love  of  respect  and  approbation ;  the  same 
vengeful  or  benevolent  feelings;  the  same  ap- 
petites, belong  to  all,  but  in  varying  propor- 
tions. They  form  the  indicia  to  a  people's  mis- 
sion, and  are  our  best  guides  to  God's  purpose 
in  creating  us.  They  constitute  the  material 
to  be  worked  on  in  educating  a  race,  and  sug- 
gest in  every  case  where  the  stress  of  civiliza- 
tion or  education  should  be  applied  in  order  to 
follow  the  lines  of  least  resistance. 

But  there  are  also    certain    manifestations, 
the  result  of  training  or  neglect,  which  are  not 
inborn.     As  they  are    inculcable,  so  they  are 
[164] 


Characteristics 

•eradicable ;  and  it  is  only  by  a  loose  terminology 
that  we  apply  the  term  characteristics  to  them 
without  distinction  between  them  and  the  in- 
herent traits.  In  considering  the  character- 
istics of  the  Negro  people,  therefore,  we  must 
not  confuse  the  constitutional  with  the  re- 
movable. Studied  with  sympathy  and  at  first 
hand,  the  black  man  of  America  will  be  seen  to 
possess  certain  predominant  idiosyncrasies  of 
which  the  following  form  a  fair  catalogue: 

He  is  intensely  religious.  True  religion  is 
based  upon  a  belief  in  the  supernatural,  upon 
faith  and  feeling.  A  people  deeply  supersti- 
tious are  apt  to  be  deeply  religious,  for  both 
rest  upon  a  belief  in  a  spiritual  world.  Super- 
stition differs  from  religion  in  being  the  un- 
trained and  unenlightened  gropings  of  the  hu- 
man soul  after  the  mysteries  of  the  higher  life; 
while  the  latter,  more  or  less  enlightened,  "feels 
after  God,  if  haply,"  it  may  find  Him.  The 
Negro  gives  abundant  evidence  of  both  phases. 
The  absolute  inability  of  the  master,  in  the 
days  of  slavery,  while  successfully  vetoing  all 

[165] 


The  Negro  Problem 

other  kinds  of  convocation,  to  stop  the  Negro's 
church  meetings,  as  well  as  the  almost  phenom- 
enal influence  and  growth  of  his  churches 
since ;  and  his  constant  referring  of  every  event, 
adverse  or  favorable,  to  the  personal  ministra- 
tions of  the  Creator,  are  things  unique  and  per- 
sistent. And  the  master  class  reposed  more 
faith  in  their  slaves'  religion  ofttimes  than  they 
did  in  their  own.  Doubtless  much  of  the  rev- 
erential feeling  that  pervades  the  American 
home  to-day,  above  that  of  all  other  nations, 
is  the  result  of  the  Negro  mammy's  devotion 
and  loyalty  to  God. 

He  is  imaginative.  This  is  not  evinced  so 
much  in  creative  directions  as  in  poetical, 
musical,  combinatory,  inventional  and  what, 
if  coupled  with  learning,  we  call  literary  imag- 
ination. Negro  eloquence  is  proverbial.  The 
crudest  sermon  of  the  most  unlettered  slave 
abounded  in  tropes  and  glowing  tongue  pic- 
tures of  apochalyptic  visions  all  his  own;  and, 
indeed,  the  poetic  quality  of  his  mind  is  seen 
in  all  his  natural  efforts  when  the  self-con- 
[166] 


Characteristics 

sciousness  of  education  does  not  stand  guard. 
The  staid  religious  muse  of  Phillis  Wheatley 
and  the  rollicking,  somewhat  jibing,  verse  of 
Dunbar  show  it  equally,  unpremeditated  and 
spontaneous. 

I  have  heard  by  the  hour  some  ordinary  old 
uneducated  Negro  tell  those  inimitable  animal 
stories,  brought  to  literary  existence  in  "Uncle 
Remus,"  with  such  quaint  humor,  delicious  con- 
ceit and  masterly  delineation  of  plot,  character 
and  incident  that  nothing  but  the  conventional 
rating  of  Aesop's  Fables  could  put  them  in  the 
same  class.  Then,  there  are  more  Negro  in- 
ventors than  the  world  supposes.  This  faculty 
is  impossible  without  a  well-ordered  imagin- 
ation held  in  leash  by  a  good  memory  and  large 
perception. 

He  is  affectionate  and  without  vindictiveness. 
He  does  not  nurse  even  great  wrongs.  Mer- 
curial as  he  is,  often  furiously  angry  and  fre- 
quently in  murderous  mood,  he  comes  nearer 
not  letting  the  sun  go  down  upon  his  anger 


The  Negro  Problem 

than  any  other  man  I  know.     Like  Brutus,  he 
may  be  compared  to  the  flint  which, 

"Much  enforced,  shows  a  hasty  spark, 

And  straight  is  cold  again." 
His  affection  is  not  less  towards  the  Caucasian 
than  to  his  own  race.  It  is  not  saying  too 
much  to  remark  that  the  soul  of  the  Negro 
yearns  for  the  white  man's  good  will  and  re- 
spect; and  the  old  ties  of  love  that  subsisted  in 
so  many  instances  in  the  days  of  slavery  still 
survive  where  the  ex-slave  still  lives.  The 
touching  case  of  a  Negro  Bishop  who  returned 
to  the  State  in  which  he  had  been  a  slave,  and 
rode  twenty  miles  to  see  and  alleviate  the  finan- 
cial distress  of  his  former  master  is  an  excep- 
tion to  numerous  other  similar  cases  only  in 
the  prominence  of  the  Negro  concerned.  I 
know  of  another  case  of  a  man  whose  tongue 
seems  dipped  in  hyssop  when  he  begins  to  tell 
of  the  wrongs  of  his  race,  and  who  will  not  al- 
low anyone  to  say  in  his  presence  that  any 
good  came  out  of  slavery,  even  incidentally; 
yet  he  supports  the  widowed  and  aged  wife  of 
[168] 


Characteristics 

his  former  master.  And,  surely,  if  these  two 
instances  are  not  sufficient  to  establish  the  gen- 
eral proposition,  none  will  gainsay  the  patience, 
vigilance,  loyalty  and  helpfulness  of  the  Negro 
slave  during  the  Civil  War,  and  of  his  good  old 
wife  who  nursed  white  children  at  her  breast 
at  a  time  when  all  ties  save  those  of  affection 
were  ruptured,  and  when  no  protection  but  de- 
voted hearts  watched  over  the  "great  house," 
whose  head  and  master  was  at  the  front,  right- 
ing to  perpetuate  slavery.  Was  it  stupidity  on 
the  Negro's  part?  Not  at  all.  He  was  well 
informed  as  to  the  occurrences  of  the  times. 
A  freemasonry  kept  him  posted  as  well  as  the 
whites  were  themselves  on  the  course  of  the 
war  and  the  issue  of  each  battle.  Was  it  fear 
that  kept  him  at  the  old  home?  Not  that, 
either.  Many  thousands  did  cross  the  line  to 
freedom;  many  other  thousands  (200,000) 
fought  in  the  ranks  for  freedom,  but  none  of 
them — those  who  went  and  those  who  stayed 
— those  who  fought  and  those  who  worked, — 
betrayed  a  trust,  outraged  a  female,  or  rebelled 
[169] 


The  Negro  Problem 

against  a  duty.  It  was  love,  the  natural  well- 
ings  of  affectionate  natures. 

He  has  great  endurance,  both  dispositional 
and  physical.  So  true  is  the  first  that  his  pa- 
tience has  been  the  marvel  of  the  world;  and, 
indeed,  many,  regarding  this  trait  manifested 
in  such  an  unusual  degree,  doubted  the  Negro's 
courage,  till  the  splendid  record  of  the  '6o's  and 
the  equal,  but  more  recent,  record  of  the  '90*5, 
wrote  forbearance  as  the  real  explanation  of 
an  endurance  seemingly  so  at  variance  with 
manly  spirit. 

Of  his  physical  powers,  his  whole  record  as 
a  laborer  at  killing  tasks  in  the  most  trying 
climate  in  America  speaks  so  eloquently  that 
nothing  but  the  statistics  of  cotton,  corn,  rice, 
sugar,  railroad  ties  and  felled  forests  can  add 
to  the  praise  of  this  burden-bearer  of  the  na- 
tion. The  census  tables  here  are  more  roman- 
tic and  thrilling  than  figures  of  rhetoric. 

He  is  courageous.  His  page  in  the  war 
record  of  this  country  is  without  blot  or  blem- 
ish. His  commanders  unite  in  pronouncing 

[I/O] 


Characteristics 

him  admirable  for  courage  in  the  field,  com- 
mendable for  obedience  in  camp.  That  he 
should  exhibit  such  excellent  fighting  qualities 
as  a  soldier,  and  yet  exercise  the  forbearance 
that  characterizes  him  as  a  citizen,  is  re- 
markable. 

He  is  cheerful.  His  ivories  are  as  famous 
as  his  songs.  That  the  South  is  "sunny"  is 
largely  due  to  the  brightness  his  rollicking 
laugh  and  unfailing  good  nature  bring  to  it. 
Though  the  mudsill  of  the  labor  world,  he 
whistles  as  he  hoes,  and  no  dark  breedings  or 
whispered  conspirings  mar  the  cheerful  ac- 
ceptance of  the  load  he  bears.  Against  the 
rubber  bumper  of  his  good  cheer  things  that 
have  crushed  and  maddened  others  rebound 
without  damage.  When  one  hears  the  quaint 
jubilee  songs,  set  to  minor  cadence,  he  might 
suppose  them  the  expressions  of  a  melancholy 
people.  They  are  not  to  be  so  interpreted. 
Rather  are  they  the  expression  of  an  exper- 
ience, not  a  nature.  Like  the  subdued  voice 
of  a  caged  bird,  these  songs  are  the  coinage  of 


The  Negro  Problem 

an  occasion,  and  not  the  free  note  of  nature. 
The  slave  sang  of  griefs  he  was  not  allowed  to 
discuss,  hence  his  songs.  This  cheerfulness 
has  enabled  the  Negro  to  live  and  increase  un- 
der circumstances  which,  in  all  other  instan- 
ces, have  decimated,  if  not  exterminated,  in- 
ferior peoples.  His  plasticity  to  moulding 
forces  and  his  resiliency  against  crushing  ones 
come  from  a  Thalian  philosophy,  unconscious 
and  unstudied,  that  extracts  Epicurean  delights 
from  funeral  meats. 

The  above  traits  are  inborn  and  fundamental, 
belonging  to  the  race  everywhere,  in  Africa  as 
well  as  America.  Strict  correctness  requires, 
however,  that  attention  be  called  to  the  fact 
that  there  are  tribal  differences  among  African 
Negroes  that  amount  almost  to  the  national 
variations  of  Europe ;  and  these  are  reflected  in 
American  Negroes,  who  are  the  descendants  of 
these  different  tribes.  There  is  as  much  differ- 
ence between  the  Mandingo  and  the  Hottentot, 
both  black,  as  between  the  Italian  and  the  Ger- 
man, both  white ;  or  between  the  Bushman  and 


Characteristics 

the  Zulu,  both  black,  as  between  the  Russian 
and  the  Englishman,  both  white.  Scientific 
exactness,  therefore,  would  require  a  closer 
analysis  of  racial  characteristics  than  an  article 
of  this  length  could  give;  but,  speaking  in  a 
large  way,  it  may  be  said  that  in  whatever  out- 
ward conformity  may  come  to  the  race  in 
America  by  reason  of  training  or  contact,  these 
traits  will  lie  at  the  base,  the  very  warp  and 
woof  of  his  soul  texture. 

If,  now,  we  turn  to  consider  his  inbred  traits, 
those  the  result  of  experience,  conditions  and 
environments,  we  find  that  they  exist  mainly 
as  deficiencies  and  deformities.  These  have 
been  superimposed  upon  the  native  soul  endow- 
ment. Slavery  has  been  called  the  Negro's 
great  schoolmaster,  because  it  took  him  a  sav- 
age and  released  him  civilized;  took  him  a 
heathen  and  released  him  a  Christian ;  took  him 
an  idler  and  released  him  a  laborer.  Undoubt- 
edly it  did  these  things  superficially,  but  one 
great  defect  is  to  be  charged  against  this  school 
— it  did  not  teach  him  the  meaning  of  home, 

[173] 


The  Negro  Problem 

purity  and  providence.  To  do  this  is  the  bur- 
den of  freedom. 

The  emancipated  Negro  struggles  up  to-day 
against  many  obstacles,  the  entailment  of  a 
brutal  slavery.  Leaving  out  of  consideration 
the  many  who  have  already  emerged,  let  us  ap- 
ply our  thoughts  to  the  great  body  of  sub- 
merged people  in  the  congested  districts  of 
city  and  country  who  present  a  real  problem, 
and  who  must  be  helped  to  higher  things.  We 
note  some  of  the  heritages  under  which  they 
stagger  up  into  full  development: 

Shiftlessness.  He  had  no  need  to  devise 
and  plan  in  bondage.  There  was  no  need  for 
an  enterprising  spirit ;  consequently,  he  is  lack- 
ing in  leadership  and  self-reliance.  He  is  in- 
clined to  stay  in  ruts,  and  applies  himself  list- 
lessly to  a  task,  feeling  that  the  directive 
agency  should  come  from  without. 

Incontinence.  It  is  not  to  the  point 
to  say  that  others  are,  too.  Undoubt- 
edly, example  has  as  much  to  do  with  this  lax- 
ity as  neglect.  We  simply  record  the  fact.  A 

[174] 


Characteristics 

slave's  value  was  increased  by  his  prolificacy. 
Begetting  children  for  the  auction  block  could 
hardly  sanctify  family  ties.  It  was  not  nearly 
so  necessary  for  a  slave  to  know  his  father  as 
his  owner.  Added  to  the  promiscuity  encour- 
aged and  often  forced  among  this  class,  was  the 
dreadful  license  which  cast  lustful  Caucasian- 
eyes  upon  "likely"  Negro  women. 

Indolence.  Most  men  are,  especially  in  a 
warm  climate:  but  the  Negro  acquired  more 
than  the  natural  share,  because  to  him  as  a 
bondman  laziness  was  great  gain,  for  he  had 
no  pecuniary  interest  in  his  own  labor.  Hence, 
holidays  were  more  to  be  desired  than  whole 
labor  days,  and  he  learned  to  do  as  little  as  he 
might,  be  excused  as  often  as  he  could,  and  hail 
Saturday  as  the  oasis  in  a  desert  week.  He  hails 
it  yet.  The  labor  efficiency  of  the  Negro  has 
greatly  increased  since  the  emancipation,  for 
self-interest  is  a  factor  now.  In  1865,  each 
Negro  produced  two- thirds  of  a  bale  of  cotton ; 
now  he  produces  an  average  of  one  whole  bale 
to  the  man.  But  there  is  still  woful  waste  of 
[175] 


The  Negro  Problem 

productive  energy.  A  calculation  showing  the 
comparative  productive  capacity,  man  for  man, 
between  the  Northen  and  Southern  laborer 
would  be  very  interesting. 

Improvidence  and  Extravagance.  He  will 
drop  the  most  important  job  to  go  on  an 
excursion  or  parade  with  his  lodge.  He  spends 
large  sums  on  expensive  clothing  and  luxuries, 
while  going  without  things  necessary  to  a 
real  home.  He  will  cheerfully  eat  fat  bacon 
and  "pone"  corn-bread  all  the  weeek  in  order 
to  indulge  in  unlimited  soda-water,  melon  and 
fish  at  the  end.  In  the  cities  he  is  oftener  seen 
dealing  with  the  pawn-broker  than  the  banker. 
His  house,  when  furnished  at  all,  is  better  fur- 
nished that  that  of  a  white  man  of  equal  earn- 
ing power,  but  it  is  on  the  installment  plan. 
He  is  loath  to  buy  a  house,  because  he  has  no 
taste  for  responsibility  nor  faith  in  himself  to 
manage  large  concerns;  but  organs,  pianos, 
clocks,  sewing-machines  and  parlor  suits,  on 
time,  have  no  terrors  for  him.  This  is  because 
he  has  been  accustomed  to  think  in  small  num- 


Characteristics 

bers.  He  does  not  regard  the  Scotchman's 
"mickle,"  because  he  does  not  stop  to  consider 
that  the  end  is  a  "muckle."  He  has  amassed, 
at  full  valuation,  nearly  a  billion  dollars'  worth 
of  property,  despite  this,  but  this  is  about  one- 
half  of  what  proper  providence  would  have 
shown. 

Untidiness.  Travel  through  the  South 
and  you  will  be  struck  with  the  general  misfit 
and  dilapidated  appearance  of  things.  Palings 
are  missing  from  the  fences,  gates  sag  on  single 
hinges,  houses  are  unpainted,  window  panes 
are  broken,  yards  unkempt  and  the  appearance 
of  a  squalor  greater  than  the  real  is  seen  on 
every  side.  The  inside  of  the  house  meets  the 
suggestions  of  the  outside.  This  is  a  projec- 
tion of  the  slave's  "quarters"  into  freedom. 
The  cabin  of  the  slave  was,  at  best,  a  place  to 
eat  and  sleep  in;  there  was  no  thought  of  the 
esthetic  in  such  places.  A  quilt  on  a  plank  was 
a  luxury  to  the  tired  farm-hand,  and  paint  was 
nothing  to  the  poor,  sun-scorched  fellow  who 
sought  the  house  for  shade  rather  than  beauty. 


The  Negro  Problem 

Habits  of  personal  cleanliness  were  not  incul- 
cated, and  even  now  it  is  the  exception  to  find 
a  modern  bath-room  in  a  Southern  home. 

Dishonesty.  This  is  the  logic,  if  not 
the  training,  of  slavery.  It  is  easy  for  the  un- 
requited toiler  in  another's  field  to  justify  re- 
prisal ;  hence  there  arose  among  the  Negroes  an 
amended  Commandment  which  added  to  "Thou 
shalt  not  steal"  the  clause,  "except  thou  be 
stolen  from."  It  was  no  great  fault,  then, 
according  to  this  code,  to  purloin  a  pig,  a  sheep, 
a  chicken,  or  a  few  potatoes  from  a  master  who 
took  all  from  the  slave. 

Untruthfulness.  This  is  seen  more  in  in- 
nocent and  childish  exaggeration  than  in  vic- 
ious distortion.  It  is  the  vice  of  untutored 
minds  to  run  to  gossip  and  make  miracles  of 
the  matter-of-fact.  The  Negro  also  tells  false- 
hoods from  excess  of  good  nature.  He  prom- 
ises to  do  a  piece  of  work  on  a  certain  day,  be- 
cause it  is  so  much  easier  and  pleasanter  to  say 
Yes,  and  stay  away,  than  it  is  to  say  No. 


Characteristics 

Business  Unreliability.  He  does  not  meet 
a  promise  in  the  way  and  at  the  time 
promised.  Not  being  accustomed  to  business, 
he  has  small  conception  of  the  place  the 
promise  has  in  the  business  world.  It  is 
only  recently  he  has  begun  to  deal  with  banks. 
He,  who  has  no  credit,  seees  no  loss  of  it  in  a 
protested  note,  especially  if  he  intends  to  pay 
it  some  time.  That  chain  which  links  one 
man's  obligation  to  another  man's  solvency  he 
has  not  considered.  He  is  really  as  good  'and 
safe  a  debt-payer  when  he  owes  a  white  man  as 
the  latter  can  have,  but  the  methods  of  the  mod- 
ern bank,  placing  a  time  limit  on  debts,  is  his 
detestation.  He  much  prefers  the  laissez-faire 
of  the  Southern  plantation  store. 

Lack  of  Initiative.  It  was  the  policy 
of  slavery  to  crush  out  the  combining 
instinct,  and  it  was  well  done;  for,  outside 
of  churches  and  secret  societies,  the  Negro 
has  done  little  to  increase  the  social  ef- 
ficiency which  can  combine  many  men  into  an 
organic  whole,  subject  to  the  corporate  will 
[179] 


The  Negro  Problem 

and  direction.  He  has,  however,  made  some 
hopeful  beginnings. 

Suspicion  of  his  own  race.  He  was 
taught  to  watch  other  Negroes  and  tell  all  that 
they  did.  This  was  slavery's  native  detective 
force  to  discover  incipient  insurrection.  Each 
slave  learned  to  distrust  his  fellow.  And 
added  to  this  is  the  knowledge  one  Negro  has 
that  no  other  has  had  half  sufficient  experience 
in  business  to  be  a  wise  counsellor,  or  a  safe 
steward  of  another  man's  funds.  Almost  all 
Negroes  who  have  acquired  wealth  have  en- 
trusted its  management  to  white  men. 

Ignorance.  The  causes  of  his  ignorance  all 
know.  That  he  has  thrown  off  one-half  of  it 
in  forty  years  is  a  wonderful  showing;  but  a 
great  incubus  remains  in  the  other  half,  and  it 
demands  the  nation's  attention.  What  the 
census  calls  literacy  is  often  very  shallow.  The 
cause  of  this  shallowness  lies,  in  part,  in  the 
poor  character  and  short  duration  of  Southern 
schools;  in  the  poverty  that  snatches  the  child 
from  school  prematurely  to  work  for  bread; 
[180] 


Characteristics 

in  the  multitude  of  mushroom  colleges  and  get- 
smart-quick  universities  scattered  over  the 
South,  and  in  the  glamour  of  a  professional 
education  that  entices  poorly  prepared  students 
into  special  work. 

Add  to  this,  too,  the  commercialism  of  the 
age  which  regards  each  day  in  school  as  a  day 
out  of  the  market.  Boys  and  girls  by  scores 
learn  the  mechanical  parts  of  type-writing  and 
stenography  without  the  basal  culture  which 
gives  these  callings  their  greatest  efficiency. 
They  copy  a  manuscript,  Chinese-like,  mistakes 
and  all ;  they  take  you  phonetically  in  sense  as 
well  as  sound,  having  no  reserve  to  draw  upon 
to  interpret  a  learned  allusion  or  unusual 
phrase.  Thus  while  prejudice  makes  it  hard 
to  secure  a  place,  auto-deficiency  loses  many 
a  one  that  is  secured. 

We  have  discussed  the  leading  character- 
istics of  the  Negro,  his  inborn  excellencies  and 
inbred  defects,  candidly  and  as  they  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  great  mass  whose  place  determines 
the  status  of  the  race  as  a  whole.  It  would, 
[181] 


The  Negro  Problem 

however,  be  to  small  purpose  if  we  did  not  ask 
what  can  be  done  to  develop  the  innate  good 
and  correct  the  bad  in  a  race  so  puissant  and 
numerous?  This  mass  is  not  inert;  it  has 
great  reactionary  force,  modifying  and  influ- 
encing all  about  it.  The  Negro's  excellences 
have  entered  into  American  character  and  life 
already;  so  have  his  weaknesses.  He  has 
brought  cheer,  love,  emotion  and  religion  in 
saving  measure  to  the  land.  He  has  given  it 
wealth  by  his  brawn  and  liberty  by  his  blood. 
His  self-respect,  even  in  abasement,  has  kept 
him  struggling  upward;  his  confidence  in  his 
own  future  has  infected  his  friends  and  kept 
him  from  nursing  despondency  or  planning  an- 
archy. But  he  has  laid,  and  does  lay,  burdens 
upon  the  land,  too:  his  ignorance,  his  low  av- 
erage of  morality,  his  low  standards  of  home, 
his  lack  of  enterprise,  his  lack  of  self-reliance 
— these  must  be  cured. 

Evidently,  he  is  to  be  "solved"  by  educational 
processes.  Everyone  of  his  inborn  traits  must 
be  respected  and  developed  to  proper  propor- 


Characteristics 

tion.  Excesses  and  excrescences  must  not  be 
carelessly  dealt  with,  for  they  mark  the  fertility 
of  a  soil  that  raises  rank  weeds  because  no  gar- 
dener has  tilled  it.  His  religion  must  become 
"ethics  touched  with  feeling" — not  a  paroxysm, 
but  a  principle.  His  imagination  must  be  given 
a  rudder  to  guide  its  sails;  and  the  first  fruits 
of  its  proper  exercise,  as  seen  in  a  Dunbar,  a 
Chesnutt,  a  Coleridge-Taylor  and  a  Tanner, 
must  be  pedestaled  along  the  Appian  Way  over 
which  others  are  to  march.  His  affection  must 
be  met  with  larger  love ;  his  patience  rewarded 
with  privilege ;  his  courage  called  to  defend  the 
rights  of  others  rather  than  redress  his  own 
wrongs.  Thus  shall  he  supplement  from 
within  the  best  efforts  of  good  men  without. 

To  cure  the  evils  entailed  upon  him  by  an 
unhappy  past,  he  must  be  educated  to  work 
with  skill,  with  self-direction,  in  combination 
and  unremittingly.  Industrial  education  with 
constant  application,  is  the  slogan  of  his  rise 
from  racial  pauperism  to  productive  manliness. 
Not  that  exceptional  minds  should  not  have 


The  Negro  Problem 

exceptional  opportunities  (and  they  already 
exist)  ;  but  that  the  great  majority  of  awkward 
and  unskilled  ones,  who  must  work  somehow, 
somewhere,  all  the  time,  shall  have  their  op- 
portunities for  training  in  industrial  schools 
near  them  and  with  courses  consonant  with  the 
lives  they  are  to  lead.  Let  the  ninety  and  nine 
who  must  work,  either  with  trained  or  fumb- 
ling hands,  have  a  chance.  Train  the  Negro 
to  accept  and  carry  responsibility  by  putting  it 
upon  him.  Train  him,  more  than  any  schools 
are  now  doing,  in  morals — to  speak  the  truth, 
to  keep  a  promise,  to  touch  only  his  own  prop- 
erty, to  trust  the  trustworthy  among  his  own 
race,  to  risk  something  in  business,  to  strike 
out  in  new  lines  of  endeavor,  to  buy  houses  and 
make  homes,  to  regard  beauty  as  well  as  util- 
ity, to  save  rather  than  display.  In  short,  let 
us  subordinate  mere  knowledge  to  the  work  of 
invigorating  the  will,  energizing  productive  ef- 
fort and  clarifying  moral  vision.  Let  us  make 
safe  men  rather  than  vociferous  mountebanks ; 
let  us  put  deftness  in  daily  labor  above  sleight- 


Characteristics 

of-hand  tricks,  and  common  sense,  well  trained, 
above  classical  smatterings,  which  awe  the  mul- 
titude but  butter  no  parsnips. 

If  we  do  this,  America  will  have  enriched 
her  blood,  ennobled  her  record  and  shown  the 
world  how  to  deal  with  its  Dark  Races  without 
reproach. 


Representative  American  Negroes 
By  PAUL  LAURENCE  DUNBAR 

An  enumeration  of  some  of  the  noteworthy  American 
Negroes  of  to-day  and  yesterday,  with  some  account  of 
their  lives  and  their  work.  In  this  paper  Mr.  Dunbar 
has  turned  out  his  largest  and  most  successful  picture  of  the 
colored  people.  It  is  a  noble  canvas  crowded  with  heroic 
fgures. 


PAUL  LAURENCE  DUNBAR. 


REPRESENTATIVE  AMERICAN 
NEGROES 

In  considering  who  and  what  are  representa- 
tive Negroes  there  are  circumstances  which 
compel  one  to  question  what  is  a  representative 
man  of  the  colored  race.  Some  men  are  born 
great,  some  achieve  greatness  and  others  lived 
during  the  reconstruction  period.  To  have 
achieved  something  for  the  betterment  of  his 
race  rather  than  for  the  aggrandizement  of 
himself,  seems  to  be  a  man's  best  title  to  be 
called  representative.  The  street  corner  poli- 
tician, who  through  questionable  methods  or 
even  through  skinful  manipulation,  succeeds 
in  securing  the  janitorship  of  the  Court  House, 
may  be  written  up  in  the  local  papers  as  "rep- 
resentative," but  is  he? 

I  have  in  mind  a  young  man  in  Baltimore, 
Bernard  Taylor  by  name,  who  to  me  is  more 
[189] 


The  Negro  Problem 

truly  representative  of  the  race  than  half  of 
the  "Judges,"  "Colonels,"  "Doctors"  and 
"Honorables"  whose  stock  cuts  burden  the 
pages  of  our  .negro  journals  week  after  week. 
I  have  said  that  he  is  young.  Beyond  that  he 
is  quiet  and  unobtrusive;  but  quiet  as  he  is,  the 
worth  of  his  work  can  be  somewhat  estimated 
when  it  is  known  that  he  has  set  the  standard 
for  young  men  in  a  city  that  has  the  largest 
colored  population  in  the  world. 

It  is  not  that  as  an  individual  he  has  ridden 
to  success  one  enterprise  after  another.  It  is 
not  that  he  has  shown  capabilities  far  beyond 
his  years,  nor  yet  that  his  personal  energy  will 
not  let  him  stop  at  one  triumph.  The  im- 
portance of  him  lies  in  the  fact  that  his  influ- 
ence upon  his  fellows  is  all  for  good,  and  in  a 
large  community  of  young  Negroes  the  worth 
of  this  cannot  be  over-estimated.  He  has 
taught  them  that  striving  is  worth  while,  and 
by  the  very  force  of  his  example  of  industry 
and  perseverance,  he  stands  out  from  the  mass. 
He  does  not  tell  how  to  do  things,  he  does 
[190] 


Representative  Negroes 

them.  Nothing  has  contributed  more  to  his 
success  than  his  alertness,  and  nothing  has  been 
more  closely  followed  by  his  observers,  and 
yet  I  sometimes  wonder  when  looking  at  him, 
how  old  he  must  be,  how  world  weary,  before 
the  race  turns  from  its  worship  of  the  political 
janitor  and  says  of  him,  "this  is  one  of  our 
representative  men." 

This,  however,  is  a  matter  of  values  and 
neither  the  negro  himself,  his  friends,  his  ene- 
mies, his  lauders,  nor  his  critics  has  grown 
quite  certain  in  appraising  these.  The  rabid 
agitator  who  goes  about  the  land  preaching 
the  independence  and  glory  of  his  race,  and  by 
his  very  mouthings  retarding  both,  the  saintly 
missionary,  whose  only  mission  is  like  that  ot 
"Pooh  Bah,"  to  be  insulted;  the  man  of  the 
cloth  who  thunders  against  the  sins  of  the 
world  and  from  whom  honest  women  draw 
away  their  skirts,  the  man  who  talks  temper- 
ance and  tipples  high-balls — these  are  not  rep- 
resentative, and  whatever  their  station  in  life, 


The  Negro  Problem 

they  should  be  rated  at  their  proper  value,  for 
there  is  a  difference  between  attainment  and 
achievement. 

Under  the  -pure  light  of  reason,  the  ignor- 
ant carpet  bagger  judge  is  a  person  and  not  a 
personality.  The  illiterate  and  inefficient 
black  man,  whom  circumstance  put  into  Con- 
gress, was  "a  representative"  but  was  not  repre- 
sentative. So  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the 
days  immediately  after  the  war  have  made  it 
necessary  to  draw  fine  distinctions. 

When  Robert  Smalls,  a  slave,  piloted  the 
Confederate  ship  Planter  out  of  Charleston 
Harbor  under  the  very  guns  of  the  men  who 
were  employing  him,  who  owned  him,  his 
body,  his  soul,  and  the  husk  of  his  allegiance, 
and  brought  it  over  to  the  Union,  it  is  a  ques- 
tion which  forty  years  has  not  settled  as  to- 
whether  he  was  a  hero  or  a  felon,  a  patriot  or 
a  traitor.  So  much  has  been  said  of  the  old 
Negro's  fidelity  to  his  masters  that  something 
different  might  have  been  expected  of  him. 
But  take  the  singular  conditions :  the  first  faint 
[192] 


Representative  Negroes 

streaks  of  a  long  delayed  dawn  had  just  begun 
to  illumine  the  sky  and  this  black  pilot  with  his 
face  turned  toward  the  East  had  no  eye  for 
the  darkness  behind  him.  He  had  no  time  to 
analyze  his  position,  the  right  or  wrong  of  it. 
He  had  no  opportunity  to  question  whether  it 
was  loyalty  to  a  union  in  which  he  aspired  to 
citizenship,  or  disloyalty  to  his  masters  of  the 
despised  confederacy.  It  was  not  a  time  to 
argue,  it  was  a  time  to  do ;  and  with  rare  pow- 
er of  decision,  skill  of  action  and  with  indom- 
itable courage,  he  steered  the  good  ship  Planter 
past  Fort  Johnson,  past  Fort  Sumter,  past 
Morris  Island,  out  where  the  flag,  the  flag  of 
his  hopes  and  fears  floated  over  the  federal 
fleet.  And  Robert  Smalls  had  done  some- 
thing, something  that  made  him  loved  and 
hated,  praised  and  maligned,  revered  and  de- 
spised, but  something  that  made  him  represen- 
tative of  the  best  that  there  is  in  sturdy  Negro 
manhood. 

It  may  seem  a  far  cry  from  Robert  Smalls, 
the  pilot  of  the  Planter,  to  Booker  T.  Wash- 
[193] 


The  Negro  Problem 

ington,  Principal  of  the  Institute  at  Tuskegee, 
Alabama.  But  much  the  same  traits  of  char- 
acter have  made  the  success  of  the  two  men; 
the  knowledge  of  what  to  do,  the  courage  to 
do  it,  and  the  following  out  of  a  single  pur- 
pose. They  are  both  pilots,  and  the  waters 
through  which  their  helms  have  swung  have 
been  equally  stormy.  The  methods  of  both 
have  been  questioned;  but  singularly  neither 
one  has  stopped  to  question  himself,  but  has 
gone  straight  on  to  his  goal  over  the  barriers 
of  criticism,  malice  and  distrust.  The  secret 
of  Mr.  Washington's  power  is  organization, 
and  organization  after  all  is  only  a  concentra- 
tion of  force.  This  concentration  only  ex- 
presses his  own  personality,  in  which  every 
trait  and  quality  tend  toward  one  definite  end. 
They  say  of  this  man  that  he  is  a  man  of  one 
idea,  but  that  one  is  a  great  one  and  he  has 
merely  concentrated  all  his  powers  upon  it;  in 
other  words  he  has  organized  himself  and  gone 
forth  to  gather  in  whatever  about  him  was  es- 
sential. 

[194] 


Representative  Negroes 

Pilot  he  is,  steadfast  and  unafraid,  strong 
in  his  own  belief, — yes  strong  enough  to  make 
others  believe  in  him.  Without  doubt  or 
skepticism,  himself  he  has  confounded  the 
skeptics. 

Less  statesmanlike  than  Douglass,  less  schol- 
arly than  DuBois,  less  eloquent  than  the  late 
J.  C.  Price,  he  is  yet  the  foremost  figure  in 
Negro  national  life.  He  is  a  great  educator 
and  a  great  man,  and  though  one  may  not  al- 
ways agree  with  him,  one  must  always  respect 
him.  The  race  has  produced  no  more  adroit 
diplomatist  than  he.  The  statement  is  broad 
but  there  is  no  better  proof  of  it  than  the  fact 
that  while  he  is  our  most  astute  politician,  he 
has  succeeded  in  convincing  both  himself  and 
the  country  that  he  is  not  in  politics.  He  has 
none  of  the  qualities  of  the  curb-stone  poli- 
tician. He  is  bigger,  broader,  better,  and  the 
highest  compliment  that  could  be  paid  him  is 
that  through  all  his  ups  and  downs,  with  all 
he  has  seen  of  humanity,  he  has  kept  his  faith 
and  his  ideals.  While  Mr.  Washington  stands 

[195] 


The  Negro  Problem 

pre-eminent  in  his  race  there  are  other  names 
that  must  be  mentioned  with  him  as  co-work- 
ers in  the  education  of  the  world,  names  that 
for  lack  of  time  can  be  only  mentioned  and 
passed. 

W.  H.  Council,  of  Normal,  Alabama,  has 
been  doing  at  his  school  a  good  and  great 
work  along  the  same  lines  as  Tuskegee.  R. 
R.  Wright,  of  the  State  College  of  Georgia, 
"We'se  a-risin'  Wright,"  he  is  called,  and  by 
his  own  life  and  work  for  his  people  he  has 
made  true  the  boyish  prophecy  which  in  the 
old  days  inspired  Whittier's  poem.  Three  de- 
cades ago  this  was  his  message  from  the  lowly 
South,  "Tell  'em  we'se  a-risin,"  and  by 
thought,  by  word,  by  deed,  he  has  been  "Tellin' 
ern  so"  ever  since.  The  old  Southern  school 
has  melted  into  the  misty  shades  of  an  unre- 
gretted  past.  A  new  generation,  new  issues, 
new  conditions,  have  replaced  the  old,  but  the 
boy  who  sent  that  message  from  the  heart  of 
the  Southland  to  the  North's  heart  of  hearts  has 
risen,  and  a  martyred  President  did  not  blush 
to  call  him  friend. 


Representative  Negroes 

So  much  of  the  Negro's  time  has  been  given 
to  the  making  of  teachers  that  it  is  difficult  to 
stop  when  one  has  begun  enumerating  some 
of  those  who  have  stood  out  more  than  usually 
forceful.  For  my  part,  there  are  two  more 
whom  I  cannot  pass  over.  Kelly  Miller,  of 
Howard  University,  Washington,  D.  C,  is  an- 
other instructor  far  above  the  average.  He  is 
a  mathematician  and  a  thinker.  The  world 
has  long  been  convinced  of  what  the  colored 
man  could  do  in  music  and  in  oratory,  but  it 
has  always  been  skeptical,  when  he  is  to  be 
considered  as  a  student  of  any  exact  science. 
Miller,  in  his  own  person,  has  settled  all  that. 
He  finished  at  Johns  Hopkins  where  they  will 
remember  him.  He  is  not  only  a  teacher  but 
an  author  who  writes  with  authority  upon  his 
chosen  themes,  whether  he  is  always  known  as 
a  Negro  writer  or  not.  He  is  endowed  with 
an  accurate,  analytical  mind,  and  the  most  en- 
gaging blackness,  for  which  some  of  us  thank 
God,  because  there  can  be  no  argument  as  to 
the  source  of  his  mental  powers. 

[197] 


The  Negro  Problem 

Now  of  the  other,  William  E.  B.  DuBois, 
what  shall  be  said?  Educator  and  author,  po- 
litical economist  and  poet,  an  Eastern  man 
against  a  Southern  back-ground,  he  looms  up 
strong,  vivid  and  in  bold  relief.  I  say  looms 
advisedly,  because,  intellectually,  there  is  some- 
thing so  distinctively  big  about  the  man. 
Since  the  death  of  the  aged  Dr.  Crummell,  we 
have  had  no  such  ripe  and  finished  scholar. 
Dr.  DuBois,  Harvard  gave  him  to  us,  and 
there  he  received  his  Ph.  D.,  impresses  one  as 
having  reduced  all  life  and  all  literature  to  a 
perfect  system.  There  is  about  him  a  fascin- 
ating calm  of  certain  power,  whether  as  a 
searcher  after  economic  facts,  under  the  wing 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  or  defying 
the  "powers  that  be"  in  a  Negro  college  or 
leading  his  pupils  along  the  way  of  light,  one 
always  feels  in  him  this  same  sense  of  con- 
scious, restrained,  but  assured  force. 

Some  years  ago  in  the  course  of  his  re- 
searches, he  took  occasion  to  tell  his  own  peo- 
ple some  plain  hard  truths,  and  oh,  what  a 


Representative  Negroes 

howl  of  protest  and  denunciation  went  up  from 
their  assembled  throats,  but  it  never  once  dis- 
turbed his  magnificent  calm.  He  believed 
what  he  had  said,  and  not  for  a  single  moment 
did  he  think  of  abandoning  his  position. 

He  goes  at  truth  as  a  hard-riding  old  Eng- 
glish  squire  would  take  a  difficult  fence.  Let 
the  ditch  be  beyond  if  it  will. 

Dr.  DuBois  would  be  the  first  to  disclaim 
the  name  of  poet  but  everything  outside  of  his 
statistical  work  convicts  him.  The  rhythm  of 
his  style,  his  fancy,  his  imagery,  all  bid  him 
bide  with  those  whose  souls  go  singing  by  a 
golden  way.  He  has  written  a  number  of 
notable  pamphlets  and  books,  the  latest  of 
which  is  "The  Soul  of  the  Black  Folk/'  an  in- 
valuable contribution  to  the  discussion  of  the 
race  problem  by  a  man  who  knows  whereof  he 
speaks. 

Dr.  DuBois  is  at  Atlanta  University  and  has 
had  every  opportunity  to  observe  all  the  phases 
of   America's   great   question,   and   I   wish   I 
might  write  at  length  of  his  books. 
[199] 


The  Negro  Problem 

It  may  be  urged  that  too  much  time  has  al- 
ready been  taken  up  with  the  educational  side 
of  the  Negro,  but  the  reasonableness  of  this 
must  become  apparent  when  one  remembers 
that  for  the  last  forty  years  the  most  helpful 
men  of  the  race  have  come  from  the  ranks  of 
its  teachers,  and  few  of  those  who  have  finally 
done  any  big  thing,  but  have  at  some  time  or 
other  held  the  scepter  of  authority  in  a  school. 
They  may  have  changed  later  and  grown,  in- 
deed they  must  have  done  so,  but  the  fact  re- 
mains that  their  poise,  their  discipline,  the  im- 
pulse for  their  growth  came  largely  from  their 
work  in  the  school  room. 

There  is  perhaps  no  more  notable  example 
of  this  phase  of  Negro  life  than  the  Hon.  Rich- 
ard Theodore  Greener,  our  present  Consul  at 
Vladivostok.  He  wras,  I  believe,  the  first  of 
our  race  to  graduate  from  Harvard  and  he  has 
always  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  schol- 
arly men  who,  through  the  touch  of  Negro 
blood,  belongs  to  us.  He  has  been  historian, 
journalist  and  lecturer,  but  back  of  all  this  he 
[200] 


Representative  Negroes 

was  a  teacher;  and  for  years  after  his  gradua- 
tion he  was  a  distinguished  professor  at  the 
most  famous  of  all  the  old  Negro  colleges. 
This  institution  .is  now  a  thing  of  the  past,  but 
the  men  who  knew  it  in  its  palmy  days  speak 
of  it  still  with  longing  and  regret.  It  is 
claimed,  and  from  the  names  and  qualities  of 
the  men,  not  without  justice,  that  no  school 
for  the  higher  education  of  the  black  man  has 
furnished  a  finer  curriculum  or  possessed  a  bet- 
ter equipped  or  more  efficient  faculty.  Among 
these,  Richard  T.  Greener  was  a  bright,  par- 
ticular star. 

After  the  passing  of  the  school,  Mr.  Greener 
turned  to  other  activities.  His  highest  char- 
acteristics were  a  fearless  patience  and  a  hope 
that  buoyed  him  up  through  days  of  doubt  and 
disappointment.  Author  and  editor  he  was, 
but  he  was  not  satisfied  with  these.  Beyond 
their  scope  were  higher  things  that  beckoned 
him.  Politics,  or  perhaps  better,  political 
science,  allured  him,  and  he  applied  himself  to 
a  course  that  brought  him  into  intimate  con- 
[201] 


The  Negro  Problem 

tact  with  the  leaders  of  his  country,  white  and 
black.  A  man  of  wide  information,  great 
knowledge  and  close  grasp  of  events  he  made 
himself  invaluable  to  his  party  and  then  with 
his  usual  patience  awaited  his  reward. 

The  story  of  how  he  came  to  his  own  cannot 
be  told. without  just  a  shade  of  bitterness  dark- 
ening the  smile  that  one  must  give  to  it  all. 
The  cause  for  which  he  had  worked  triumphed. 
The  men  for  whom  he  had  striven  gained  their 
goal  and  now.  Greener  must  be  recognized, 
but — 

Vladivostok,  your  dictionary  will  tell  you, 
is  a  sea-port  in  the  maritime  Province  of  Si- 
beria, situated  on  the  Golden  Horn  of  Peter 
the  Great.  It  will  tell  you  also  that  it  is  the 
chief  Russian  naval  station  on  the  Pacific.  It 
is  an  out  of  the  way  place  and  one  who  has  not 
the  world-circling  desire  would  rather  hesitate 
before  setting  out  thither.  It  was  to  this  post 
that  Mr.  Greener  was  appointed. 

"Exile,"  his  friends  did  not  hesitate  to  say. 
"Why  didn't  the  Government  make  it  a  sen- 
[202] 


Representative  Negroes 

tence  instead  of  veiling  it  in  the  guise  of  an 
appointment?"  asked  others  sarcastically. 

"Will  he  go?"  That  was  the  general  ques- 
tion that  rose  and  fell,  whispered  and  thun- 
dered about  the  new  appointee,  and  in  the 
midst  of  it  all,  silent  and  dignified,  he  kept  his 
council.  The  next  thing  Washington  knew 
he  was  gone.  There  was  a  gasp  of  astonish- 
ment and  then  things  settled  back  into  their 
former  state  of  monotony  and  Greener  was 
forgotten. 

But  in  the  eastern  sky,  darkness  began  to 
arise,  the  warning  flash  of  danger  swept  across 
the  heavens,  the  thunder  drum  of  war  began 
to  roll.  For  a  moment  the  world  listened  in 
breathless  suspense,  the  suspense  of  horror. 
Louder  and  louder  rose  the  thunder  peal  until 
it  drowned  every  other  sound  in  the  ears  of 
the  nation,  every  other  sound  save  the  cries 
and  wails  of  dying  women  and  the  shrieks  of 
tortured  children.  Then  France,  England, 
Germany,  Japan  and  America  marshalled  their 
forces  and  swept  eastward  to  save  and  to 
[203] 


The  Negro  Problem 

avenge.  The  story  of  the  Boxer  uprising  has 
been  told,  but  little  has  been  said  of  how  Vlad- 
ivostok, "A  sea-port  in  the  maritime  Province 
of  Siberia,"  became  one  of  the  most  important 
points  of  communication  with  the  outside 
world,  and  its  Consul  came  frequently  to  be 
heard  from  by  the  State  Department.  And  so 
Greener  after  years  of  patience  and  toil  had 
come  to  his  own.  If  the  government  had 
wished  to  get  him  out  of  the  way,  it  had  reck- 
oned without  China. 

A  new  order  of  things  has  come  into  Negro- 
American  politics  and  this  man  has  become 
a  part  of  it.  It  matters  not  that  he  began  his 
work  under  the  old  regime.  So  did  Judge 
Gibbs,  a  man  eighty  years  of  age,  but  he,  too, 
has  kept  abreast  of  the  times,  and  although  the 
reminiscences  in  his  delightful  autobiography 
take  one  back  to  the  hazy  days  when  the  land 
was  young  and  politics  a  more  strenuous  thing 
than  it  is  even  now,  when  there  was  anarchy 
in  Louisiana  and  civil  war  in  Arkansas,  when 
one  shot  first  and  questioned  afterward;  yet 
[204] 


Representative  Negroes 

because  his  mind  is  still  active,  because  he  has 
changed  his  methods  with  the  changing  time, 
because  his  influence  over  young  men  is  greatly 
potent  still ;  he  is,  in  the  race,  perhaps,  the  best 
representative  of  what  the  old  has  brought  to 
the  new. 

Beside  him  strong,  forceful,  commanding, 
stands  the  figure  of  George  H.  White,  whose 
farewell  speech  before  the  Fifty-sixth  Con- 
gress, when  through  the  disf ranch isement  of 
Negroes  he  was  defeated  for  re-election,  stir- 
red the  country  and  fired  the  hearts  of  his 
brothers.  He  has  won  his  place  through  hon- 
esty, bravery  and  aggressiveness.  He  has 
given  something  to  the  nation  that  the  nation 
needed,  and  with  such  men  as  Pinchback, 
Lynch,  Terrell  and  others  of  like  ilk,  acting  in 
concert,  it  is  but  a  matter  of  time  when  his 
worth  shall  induce  a  repentant  people,  with  a 
justice  builded  upon  the  foundation  of  its  old 
prejudice,  to  ask  the  Negro  back  to  take  a 
hand  in  the  affairs  of  state. 

[205] 


The  Negro  Problem 

Add  to  all  this  the  facts  that  the  Negro  has 
his  representatives  in  the  commercial  world: 
McCoy  and  Granville  T.  Woods,  inventors;  in 
the  agricultural  world  with  J.  H.  Groves,  the 
potato  king  of  Kansas,  who  last  year  shipped 
from  his  own  railway  siding  seventy-two 
thousand  five  hundred  bushels  of  potatoes 
alone;  in  the  military,  with  Capt.  Charles  A. 
Young,  a  West  Pointer,  now  stationed  at  the 
Presidio;  that  in  medicine,  he  possesses  in 
Daniel  H.  Williams,  of  Chicago,  one  of 
the  really  great  surgeons  of  the  coun- 
try; that  Edward  H.  Morris,  a  black  man, 
is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  lawyers  at 
the  brilliant  Cook  County  bar;  that  in  every 
walk  of  life  he  has  men  and  women  who  stand 
for  something  definite  and  concrete,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
the  race  problem  will  gradually  solve  itself. 

I  have  spoken  of  "men  and  women,"  and  in- 
deed the  women  must  not  be  forgotten,  for  to 
them  the  men  look  for  much  of  the  inspiration 
and  impulse  that  drives  them  forward  to  sue- 

[206] 


Representative  Negroes 

cess.  Mrs.  Mary  Church  Terrell  upon  the 
platform  speaking  for  Negro  womanhood  and 
Miss  Sarah  Brown,  her  direct  opposite,  a  little 
woman  sitting  up  in  her  aerie  above  a  noisy 
New  York  street,  stand  for  the  very  best  that 
there  is  in  our  mothers,  wives  and  sisters. 
The  one  fully  in  the  public  eye,  with  learning 
and  eloquence,  telling  the  hopes  and  fears  of 
her  kind ;  the  other  in  suffering  and  retirement, 
with  her  knowledge  of  the  human  heart  and 
her  gentleness  inspiring  all  who  meet  her  to 
better  and  nobler  lives.  They  are  both  doing 
their  work  bravely  and  grandly.  But  when 
the  unitiate  ask  who  is  "la  Petite  Reine,"  we 
think  of  the  quiet  little  woman  in  a  New  York 
fifth  floor  back  and  are  silent. 

She  is  a  patron  of  all  our  literature  and  art 
and  we  have  both.  Whether  it  is  a  new  song 
by  Will  Marion  Cook  or  a  new  book  by  Du- 
Bois  or  Chestnut,  than  whom  no  one  has  ever 
told  the  life  of  the  Negro  more  accurately  and 
convincingly,  she  knows  it  and  has  a  kindly 
word  of  praise  or  encouragement. 
[207] 


The  Negro  Problem 

In  looking  over  the  field  for  such  an  article 
as  this,  one  just  begins  to  realize  how  many 
Negroes  are  representative  of  something,  and 
now  it  seems  .that  in  closing  no  better  names 
could  be  chosen  than  those  of  the  two  Tanners. 

From  time  immemorial,  Religion  and  Art 
have  gone  together,  but  it  remained  for  us  to 
place  them  in  the  persons  of  these  two  men,  in 
the  relation  of  father  and  son.  Bishop  Benj. 
Tucker  Tanner,  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  is  not 
only  a  theologian  and  a  priest,  he  is  a  dignified, 
polished  man  of  the  higher  world  and  a  poet. 
He  has  succeeded  because  he  was  prepared  for 
success.  As  to  his  writings,  he  will,  perhaps, 
think  most  highly  of  "His  Apology  For  Afri- 
can Methodism;"  but  some  of  us,  while  re- 
specting this,  will  turn  from  it  to  the  poems 
and  hymns  that  have  sung  themselves  out  of 
his  gentle  heart. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  his  son,  Henry  O.  Tan- 
ner, is  a  poet  with  the  brush  or  that  the  French 
Government  has  found  it  out  ?  From  the 
father  must  have  come  the  man's  artistic  im- 
[208] 


Representative  Negroes 

pulse,  and  he  carried  it  on  and  on  to  a  golden 
fruition.  In  the  Luxembourg  gallery  hangs  his 
picture,  "The  Raising  of  Lazarus."  At  the 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  Philadelphia,  I  saw  his 
"Annunciation,"  both  a  long  way  from  his 
"Banjo  Lesson,"  and  thinking  of  him  I  began 
to  wonder  whether,  in  spite  of  all  the  industrial 
tumult,  it  were  not  in  the  field  of  art,  music  and 
literature  that  the  Negro  was  to  make  his  high- 
est contribution  to  American  civilization.  But 
this  is  merely  a  question  which  time  will 
answer. 

All  these  of  whom  I  have  spoken  are  men 
who  have  striven  and  achieved  and  the  reasons 
underlying  their  success  are  the  same  that  ac- 
count for  the  advancement  of  men  of  any  other 
race :  preparation,  perseverance,  bravery,  pa- 
tience, honesty  and  the  power  to  seize  the  op- 
portunity. 

It  is  a  little  dark  still,  but  there  are  warnings 
of  the  day  and  somewhere  out  of  the  darkness 
a  bird  is  singing  to  the  Dawn. 
[209] 


The  Negro  s  Place  in  American  Life  at 
the  Present  Day 

By  T.  THOMAS  FORTUNE 

Considering  the  two  hundred  and  forty-five  years  of 
his  slavery  and  the  comparatively  short  time  he  has  en- 
joyed the  opportunities  of  freedom,  his  place  in  American 
life  at  the  present  day  is  creditable  to  him  and  promising 
for  the  future. 


T.   THOMAS  FORTUNE. 


THE 

NEGRO'S    PLACE   IN  AMERICAN 
LIFE  AT  THE  PRESENT  DAY. 

There  can  be  no  healthy  growth  in  the  life 
of  a  race  or  a  nation  without  a  self-reliant 
spirit  animating  the  whole  body;  if  it  amounts 
to  optimism,  devoid  of  egotism  and  vanity,  so 
much  the  better.  This  spirit  necessarily  car- 
ries with  it  intense  pride  of  race,  or  of  nation, 
as  the  case  may  be,  and  ramifies  the  whole 
mass,  inspiring  and  shaping  its  thought  and  ef- 
fort, however  humble  or  exalted  these  may 
be, — as  it  takes  uall  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men"  to  make  up  a  social  order,  instinct  with 
the  ambition  and  the  activity  which  work  for 
"high  thinking  and  right  living,"  of  which 
modern  evolution  in  all  directions  is  the  most 
powerful  illustration  in  history.  If  pride  of 


The  Negro  Problem 

ancestry  can,  happily,  be  added  to  pride  of  race 
and  nation,  and  these  are  re-enforced  by  self- 
reliance,  courage  and  correct  moral  living,  the 
possible  success  of  such  people  may  be  ac- 
cepted, without  equivocation,  as  a  foregone 
conclusion.  I  have  found  all  of  these  require- 
ments so  finely  blended  in  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  no  people  as  that'  of  the  Japanese,  who 
are  just  now  emerging  from  "the  double  night 
of  ages"  into  the  vivifying  sunlight  of  modern 
progress. 

What  is  the  Negro's  place  in  American  life 
at  the  present  day? 

The  answer  depends  entirely  upon  the  point 
of  view.  Unfortunately  for  the  Afro-Amer- 
ican people,  they  have  no  pride  of  ancestry ;  in 
the  main,  few  of  them  can  trace  their  parent- 
age back  four  generations ;  and  the  "daughter 
of  an  hundred  earls"  of  whom  there  are  prob- 
ably many,  is  unconscious  of  her  descent,  and 
would  profit  nothing  by  it  if  this  were  not  true. 
The  blood  of  all  the  ethnic  types  that  go  to 
make  up  American  citizenship  flows  in  the 


Place  in  American  Life 

veins  of  the  Afro- American  people,  so  that  of 
the  ten  million  of  them  in  this  country,  ac- 
counted for  by  the  Federal  census,  not  more 
than  four  million  are  of  pure  negroid  descent, 
while  some  four  million  of  them,  not  accounted 
for  by  the  Federal  census,  have  escaped  into 
the  ranks  of  the  white  race,  and  are  re-enforced 
very  largely  by  such  escapements  every  year. 
The  vitiation  of  blood  has  operated  irresistibly 
to  weaken  that  pride  of  ancestry,  which  is  the 
foundation-stone  of  pride  of  race;  so  that  the 
Afro- American  people  have  been  held  together 
rather  by  the  segregation  decreed  by  law  and 
public  opinion  than  by  ties  of  consanguinity 
since  their  manumission  and  enfranchisement. 
It  is  not  because  they  are  poor  and  ignorant 
and  oppressed,  as  a  mass,  that  there  is  no  such 
sympathy  of  thought  and  unity  of  effort  among 
them  as  among  Irishmen  and  Jews  the  world 
over,  but  because  the  vitiation  of  blood,  beyond 
the  honorable  restrictions  of  law,  has  destroyed, 
in  large  measure,  that  pride  of  ancestry  upon 
which  pride  of  race  must  be  builded.  In  no 


The  Negro  Problem 

other  logical  way  can  we  account  for  the  failure 
of  the  Afro- American  people  to  stand  together, 
as  other  oppressed  races  do,  and  have  done,  for 
the  righting  of  wrongs  against  them  author- 
ized by  the  laws  of  the  several  states,  if  not  by 
the  Federal  Constitution,  and  sanctioned  or 
tolerated  by  public  opinion.  In  nothing  has 
this  radical  defect  been  more  noticeable  since 
the  War  of  the  Rebellion  than  in  the  uniform 
failure  of  the  people  to  sustain  such  civic  or- 
ganizations as  exist  and  have  existed,  to  test 
in  the  courts  of  law  and  in  the  forum  of  public 
opinion  the  validity  of  organic  laws  of  States 
intended  to  deprive  them  of  the  civil  and  polit- 
ical rights  guaranteed  to  them  by  the  Federal 
Constitution.  The  two  such  organizations  of 
this  character  which  have  appealed  to  them  are 
the  National  A  fro- American  League,  organ- 
ized in  Chicago,  in  1890,  and  the  National 
A  fro- American  Council,  organized  in  Roches- 
ter, New  York,  out  of  the  League,  in  1898. 
The  latter  organization  still  exists,  the  strong- 
est of  its  kind,  but  it  has  never  commanded  the 


Place  in  American  Life 

sympathy  and  support  of  the  masses  of  the 
people,  nor  is  there,  or  has  there  been,  substan- 
tial agreement  and  concert  of  effort  among  the 
thoughtful  men  of  the  race  along  these  lines. 
They  have  been  restrained  by  selfish,  personal 
and  petty  motives,  while  the  constitutional 
rights  which  vitalize  their  citizenship  have  been 
"denied  or  abridged"  by  legislation  of  certain 
of  the  States  and  by  public  opinion,  even  as 
Nero  fiddled  while  Rome  burned.  If  they  had 
been  actuated  by  a  strong  pride  of  ancestry  and 
of  race,  if  they  had  felt  that  injury  to  one  was 
injury  to  all,  if  they  had  hung  together  instead 
of  hanging  separately,  their  place  in  the  civil 
and  political  life  of  the  Republic  to-day  would 
not  be  that,  largely,  of  pariahs,  with  none  so 
poor  as  to  do  them  honor,  but  that  of  equality 
of  right  under  the  law  enjoyed  by  all  other  alien 
ethnic,  forces  in  our  citizenship.  They  who 
will  not  help  themselves  are  usually  not 
helped  by  others.  They  who  make  a  loud 
noise  and  courageously  contend  for  what 
is  theirs,  usually  enjoy  the  respect  and 


The  Negro  Problem 

confidence  of  their  fellows  and  get,  in  the 
end,  what  belongs  to  them,  or  a  reasonable 
modification  of  it. 

As  a  consequence  of  inability  to  unite  in 
thought  and  effort  for  the  conservation  of  their 
civil  and  political  rights,  the  Afro-American 
Negroes  and  colored  people  have  lost,  by  funda- 
mental enactments  of  the  old  slave-holding 
States,  all  of  the  civil  and  political  rights  guar- 
anteed them  by  the  Federal  Constitution,  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  which  they  were  from 
the  adoption  of  the  War  Amendments 
up  to  1876-7,  when  they  were  sacrificed 
by  their  Republican  allies  of  the  North  and 
West,  in  the  alienation  of  their  State  govern- 
ments, in  order  to  save  the  Presidency  to  Mr. 
Rutherford  B.  Hayes  of  Ohio.  Their  re- 
verses in  this  matter  in  the  old  slave-holding 
States,  coupled  with  a  vast  mass  of  class  legis- 
lation, modelled  on  the  slave  code,  have  af- 
fected the  Afro- American  people  in  their  civil 
and  political  rights  in  all  of  the  States 
of  the  Republic,  especially  as  far  as  pub- 

[218] 


Place  in  American  Life 

lie  opinion  is  concerned.  This  was  inevitable, 
and  follows  in  every  instance  in  history  where 
a  race  element  of  the  citizenship  is  set  aside  by 
law  or  public  opinion  as  separate  and  dis- 
tinct from  its  fellows,  with  a  fixed  status  or 
caste. 

It  will  take  the  Afro-American  people  fully 
a  century  to  recover  what  they  lost  of  civil  and 
political  equality  under  the  law  in  the  Southern 
States,  as  a  result  of  the  re-actionary  and 
bloody  movement  begun  in  the  Reconstruction 
period  by  the  Southern  whites,  and  culminating 
in  1877, — the  excesses  of  the  Reconstruction 
governments,  about  which  so  much  is  said  to 
the  discredit  of  the  Negro,  being  chargeable  to 
the  weakness  and  corruption  of  Northern  car- 
pet-baggers, who  were  th£  master  and  respon- 
sible spirits  of  the  time  and  the  situation, 
rather  than  to  the  weakness,  the  ignorance  and 
venality  of  their  Negro  dupes,  who,  very  nat- 
urally, followed  where  they  led,  as  any  other 
grateful  people  would  have  done.  For,  were 
not  these  same  Northern  carpet-baggers  the  di- 
[219] 


The  Negro  Problem 

rect  representatives  of  the  Government  and  the 
Army  which  crushed  the  slave  power  and 
broke  the  shackles  of  the  slave?  Even  so. 
The  Northern  carpet-baggers  planned  and  got 
the  plunder^  and  have  it;  the  Negro  got  the 
credit  and  the  odium,  and  have  them  yet.  It 
often  happens  that  way  in  history,  that  the  in- 
nocent dupes  are  made  to  suffer  for  the  mis- 
deeds and  crimes  of  the  guilty. 

The  recovery  of  civil  and  political  rights  un- 
der the  Constitution,  as  "denied  or  abridged" 
by  the  constitutions  of  the  States,  more  espec- 
ially those  of  the  old  slave  holding  ones,  will 
be  a  slow  and  tedious  process,  and  will  come  to 
the  individual  rather  than  to  the  race,  as  the  re- 
ward of  character  and  thrift;  because,  for 
reasons  already  stated,  it  will  hardly  be  pos- 
sible in  the  future,  as  it  has  not  been  in  the  past, 
to  unify  the  mass  of  the  Afro- American  people, 
in  thought  and  conduct,  for  a  proper  conten- 
tion in  the  courts  and  at  the  ballot-box  and  in 
the  education  of  public  opinion,  to  accomplish 
this  purpose.  Perhaps  there  is  no  other  in- 
[220] 


Place  in  American  Life 

stance  in  history  where  everything  depended 
so  largely  upon  the  individual,  and  so  little 
upon  the  mass  of  his  race,  for  that  development 
in  the  religious  and  civic  virtues  which  makes 
more  surely  for  an  honorable  status  in  any  cit- 
izenship than  constitutions  or  legislative  enact- 
ments built  upon  them. 

But  even  from  this  point  of  view,  I  am  dis- 
posed to  believe  that  the  Negro's  civil  and  po- 
litical rights  are  more  firmly  fixed  in  law  and 
public  opinion  than  was  true  at  the  close  of  the 
Reconstruction  period,  when  everything  relat- 
ing to  him  was  unsettled  and  confused,  based 
in  legislative  guarantees,  subject  to  approval  or 
disapproval  of  the  dominant  public  opinion  of 
the  several  States,  and  that  he  will  gradually 
work  out  his  own  salvation  under  the  Consti- 
tution,— such  as  Charles  Sumner,  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Frederick  Doug- 
lass, and  their  co-workers,  hoped  and  labored 
that  he  might  enjoy.  He  has  lost  nothing  un- 
der the  fundamental  law;  such  of  these  restric- 
tions, as  apply  to  him  by  the  law  of  certain  of 
[221] 


The  Negro  Problem 

the  States,  necessarily  apply  to  white  men  in 
like  circumstances  of  ignorance  and  poverty, 
and  can  be  overcome,  in  time,  by  assiduous 
courtship  of  the  schoolmaster  and  the  bank 
cashier.  The  extent  to  which  the  individual 
members  of  the  race  are  overcoming  the  re- 
strictions made  a  bar  to  their  enjoyment  of 
civil  and  political  rights  under  the  Constitution 
is  gratifying  to  those  who  wish  the  race  well 
and  who  look  beyond  the  present  into  the  fut- 
ure; while  it  is  disturbing  the  dreams  of  those 
who  spend  most  of  their  time  and  thought  in 
abortive  efforts  to  "keep  the  'nigger'  in  his 
place" — as  if  any  man  or  race  could  have  a 
place  in  the  world's  thought  and  effort  which 
he  did  not  make  for  himself!  In  our  grand 
Republic,  at  least,  it  has  been  so  often  demon- 
strated as  to  become  proverbial,  that  the  door 
of  opportunity  shall  be  closed  to  no  man,  and 
that  he  shall  be  allowed  to  have  that  place  in 
our  national  life  which  he  makes  for  himself. 
So  it  is  with  the  Negro  now,  as  an  individual. 
Will  it  be  so  with  him  in  the  future  as  a  race? 
[222] 


Place  in  American  Life 

To  answer  that  we  shall  first  have  to  determine 
that  he  has  a  race. 

However  he  may  be  lacking  in  pride  of  an- 
cestry and  race,  no  one  can  accuse  the  Negro 
of  lack  of  pride  of  Nation  and  State,  and  even 
of  county.  Indeed,  his  pride  in  the  Republic 
and  his  devotion  to  it  are  among  the  most  pa- 
thetic phases  of  his  pathetic  history,  from 
Jamestown,  in  1620,  to  San  Juan  Hill,  in  1898. 
He  has  given  everything  to  the  Republic, — his 
labor  and  blood  and  prayers.  What  has  the 
Republic  given  him,  but  blows  and  rebuffs  and 
criminal  ingratitude!  And  he  stands  now, 
ready  and  eager,  to  give  the  Republic  all  that 
he  has.  What  does  the  Republic  stand  ready 
and  eager  to  give  him?  Let  the  answer  come 
out  of  the  mouth  of  the  future. 

It  is  a  fair  conclusion  that  the  Negro  has  a 
firmer  and  more  assured  civil  and  political 
status  in  American  life  to-day  than  at  the  close 
of  the  Reconstruction  period,  paradoxical  as 
this  may  appear  to  many,  despite  the  adverse 
legislation  of  the  old  slave-holding  States,  and 
[223] 


The  Negro  Problem 

the  tolerant  favor  shown  such  legislation  by 
the  Federal  Supreme  Court,  in  such  opinions 
as  it  has  delivered,  from  time  to  time,  upon  the 
subject,  since  the  adoption  of  the  War  amend- 
ments to  the  Federal  Constitution.  Tech- 
nically, the  Negro  stands  upon  equality '  with 
all  other  citizens  under  this  large  body  of 
special  and  class  legislation ;  but,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  it  is  so  framed  that  the  greatest  inequal- 
ity prevails,  and  was  intended  to  prevail,  in  the 
administration  of  it  by  the  several  States 
chiefly  concerned.  As  long  as  such  legislation 
by  the  States  specifies,  on  the  face  of  it,  that  it 
shall  operate  upon  all  citizens  equally,  however 
unequally  and  unjustly  the  legislation  may  be 
interpreted  and  administered  by  the  local 
courts,  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  has  held, 
time  and  again,  that  no  hardship  was  worked, 
and,  if  so,  that  the  aggrieved  had  his  recourse 
in  appeal  to  the  higher  courts  of  the  State  of 
which  he  is  a  citizen, — a  recourse  at  this  time 
precisely  like  that  of  carrying  coal  to  New 
Castle. 

[224] 


Place  in  American  Life 

Under  the  circumstances,  there  is  no  alterna- 
tive for  the  Negro  citizen  but  to  work  out  his 
salvation  under  the  Constitution,  as  other  cit- 
izens have  done  and  are  doing.  It  will  be  a 
long  and  tedious  process  before  the  equitable 
adjustment  has  been  attained,  but  that  does  not 
much  matter,  as  full  and  fair  enjoyment  of 
civil  and  political  rights  requires  much  time 
and  patience  and  hard  labor  in  any  given  sit- 
uation, where  two  races  come  together  in  the 
same  governmental  environment;  such  as  is 
the  case  of  the  Negro  in  America,  the  Irishman 
in  Ireland,  and  the  Jew  everywhere  in  Europe. 
It  is  just  as  well,  perhaps,  that  the  Negro  will 
have  to  work  out  his  salvation  under  the  Con- 
stitution as  an  individual  rather  than  as  a  race, 
as  the  Jew  has  done  it  in  Great  Britain  and  as 
the  Irishman  will  have  to  do  it  under  the  same 
Empire,  as  it  is  and  has  been  the  tendency  of 
our  law  and  precedent  to  subordinate  race  ele- 
ments and  to  exalt  the  individual  citizens  as  in- 
divisible "parts  of  one  stupendous  whole." 
When  this  has  been  accomplished  by  the  law 
[225] 


The  Negro  Problem 

in  the  case  of  the  Negro,  as  in  the  case  of  other 
alien  ethnic  elements  of  the  citizenship,  it  will 
be  more  gradually,  but  assuredly,  accomplished 
by  society  at  large,  the  indestructible  founda- 
tion of  which  was  laid  by  the  reckless  and 
brutal  prostitution  of  black  women  by  white 
men  in  the  days  of  slavery,  from  which  a  vast 
army  of  mulattoes  were  produced,  who  have 
been  and  are,  gradually,  by  honorable  mar- 
riage among  themselves,  changing  the  alleged 
"race  characteristics  and  tendencies"  of  the 
Negro  people.  A  race  element,  it  is  safe  and 
fair  to  conclude,  incapable,  like  that  of  the 
North  American  Indian,  of  such  a  process  of 
elimination  and  assimilation,  will  always  be  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh  of  the  Republic,  in  which 
there  is,  admittedly,  no  place  for  the  integral- 
ity and  growth  of  a  distinct  race  type.  The 
Afro-American  people,  for  reasons  that  I  have 
stated,  are  even  now  very  far  from  being  such 
a  distinct  race  type,  and  without  further  ad- 
mixture of  white  and  black  blood,  will  continue 
to  be  less  so  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  It 
[226] 


Place  in  American  Life 

seems  to  me  that  this  view  of  the  matter  has 
not  received  the  consideration  that  it  deserves 
at  the  hands  of  those  who  set  themselves  up  as 
past  grand  masters  in  the  business  of  "solving 
the  race  problem,"  and  in  accurately  defining 
"The  Negro's  Place  in  American  Life  at  the 
Present  Day."  The  negroid  type  and  the  Afro- 
American  type  are  two  very  distinct  types,  and 
the  sociologist  who  confounds  them,  as  is  very 
generally  done,  is  bound  to  confuse  his  subject 
and  his  audience. 

It  is  a  debatable  question  as  to  whether  the 
Negro's  present  industrial  position  is  better  or 
worse  than  it  was,  say,  at  the  close  of  the  Re- 
construction period.  As  a  mass,  I  am  inclined 
to  the  opinion  that  it  is  worse,  as  the  laws  of  the 
States  where  he  is  congregated  most  numer- 
ously are  so  framed  as  to  favor  the  employer 
in  every  instance,  and  he  does  not  scruple  to 
get  all  out  of  the  industrial  slave  that  he  can; 
which  is,  in  the  main,  vastly  more  than  the 
slave  master  got,  as  the  latter  was  at  the  ex- 
pense of  housing,  feeding,  clothing  and  pro- 
[227] 


The  Negro  Problem 

viding  medical  service  for  his  chattel,  while  the 
former  is  relieved  of  this  expense  and  trouble. 
Prof.  W.  E.  B.  DuBois,  of  Atlanta  University, 
who  has  made  a  critical  study  of  the  rural  Ne- 
gro of  the  Southern  States,  sums  up  the  indus- 
trial phase  of  the  matter  in  the  following 
("The  Souls  of  Black  Folk,"  pp.  39-40)  : 

"For  this  much  all  men  know :  Despite  com- 
promise, war  and  struggle,  the  Negro  is  not 
free.  In  the  backwoods  of  the  Gulf  States,  for 
miles  and  miles,  he  may  not  leave  the  planta- 
tion of  his  birth;  in  well-nigh  the  whole  rural 
South  the  black  farmers  are  peons,  bound  by 
law  and  custom  to  an  economic  slavery,  from 
which  the  only  escape  is  death  or  the  peniten- 
tiary. In  the  most  cultured  sections  and  cities 
of  the  South  the  Negroes  are  a  segregated  ser- 
vile caste,  with  restricted  rights  and  privileges. 
Before  the  courts,  both  in  law  and  custom, 
they  stand  on  a  different  and  peculiar  basis. 
Taxation  without  representation  is  the  rule  of 
their  political  life.  And  the  result  of  all  this 
is,  and  in  nature  must  have  been,  lawlessness 
and  crime." 

[228] 


Place  in  American  Life 

It  is  a  dark  and  gloomy  picture,  the  substi- 
tution of  industrial  for  chattel  slavery,  with 
none  of  the  legal  and  selfish  restraints  upon  the 
employer  which  surrounded  and  actuated  the 
master.  And  this  is  true  of  the  entire  mass  of 
the  Afro-American  laborers  of  the  Southern 
States.  Out  of  the  mass  have  arisen  a  large 
number  of  individuals  who  own  and  till  their 
own  lands.  This  element  is  very  largely  re- 
cruited every  year,  and  to  this  source  must  we 
look  for  the  gradual  undermining  of  the  indus- 
trial slavery  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  Here, 
too,  we  have  a  long  and  tedious  process  of  evo- 
lution, but  it  is  nothing  new  in  the  history  of 
races  circumstanced  as  the  Afro-American 
people  are.  That  the  Negro  is  destined,  how- 
ever, to  be  the  landlord  and  master  agricultur- 
ist of  the  Southern  States  is  a  probability  sus- 
"tained  by  all  the  facts  in  the  situation;  not  the 
least  of  which  being  the  tendency  of  the  poor 
white  class  and  small  farmers  to  abandon  agri- 
cultural pursuits  for  those  of  the  factory  and 
the  mine,  from  which  the  Negro  laborer  is  ex- 
[229] 


The  Negro  Problem 

eluded,  partially  in  the  mine  and  wholly  in  the 
factory.  The  development  of  mine  and  fac- 
tory industries  in  the  Southern  States  in  the 
past  two  decades  has  been  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable in  industrial  history. 

In  the  skilled  trades,  at  the  close  of  the  War 
of  the  Rebellion,  most  of  the  work  was  done 
by  Negroes  educated  as  artisans  in  the  hard 
school  of  slavery,  but  there  has  been  a  steady 
decline  in  the  number  of  such  laborers,  not  be- 
cause of  lack  of  skill,  but  because  trade  union- 
ism has  gradually  taken  possession  of  such  em- 
ployments in  the  South,  and  will  not  allow  the 
Negro  to  work  alongside  of  the  white  man.j 
And  this  is  the  rule  of  the  trade  unions  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
there  may  be  a  gradual  broadening  of  the 
views  of  white  laborers  in  this  vital  matter  and 
a  change  of  attitude  by  the  trade  unions  that 
they  dominate.  Can  we  reasonably  expect 
this  ?  As  matters  now  stand,  it  is  the  individ- 
ual Kegro  artisan,  often  a  master  contractor, 
who  can  work  at  his  trade  and  give  employ- 
[230] 


Place  in  American  Life 

ment  to  his  fellows.  Fortunately,  there  are  a 
great  many  of  these  in  all  parts  of  the  Southern 
States,  and  their  number  is  increasing  every 
year,  as  the  result  of  the  rapid  growth  and  high 
favor  of  industrial  schools,  where  the  trades 
are  taught.  A  very  great  deal  should  be  ex- 
pected from  this  source,  as  a  Negro  contractor 
stands  very  nearly  on  as  good  footing  as  a 
white  one  in  the  bidding,  when  he  has  estab- 
lished a  reputation  for  reliability.  The  facts 
obtained  in  every  Southern  city  bear  out  this 
view  of  the  matter.  The  individual  black  man 
has  a  fighting  chance  for  success  in  the  skilled 
trades ;  and,  as  he  succeeds,  will  draw  the  skilled 
mass  after  him.  The  proper  solution  of  the 
skilled  labor  problem  is  strictly  within  the  pow- 
er of  the  individual  Negro.  I  believe  that  he 
is  solving  it,  and  that  he  will  ultimately  solve  it. 
It  is,  however,  in  the  marvellous  building  up 
of  a  legal,  comfortable  and  happy  home  life, 
where  none  whatever  existed  at  the  close  of  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion ;  in  the  no  less  stupend- 
ous development  of  the  church  life,  with  large 


The  Negro  Problem 

and  puissant  organizations  that  command  the 
respect  and  admiration  of  mankind,  and  owning 
splendid  church  property  valued  at  millions  of 
dollars ;  in  the  quenchless  thirst  of  the  mass  of 
the  people  for  useful  knowledge,  displayed  at 
the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  and 
abating  nothing  of  its  intense  keenness  since, 
with  the  remarkable  reduction  in  the  illiteracy 
of  the  mass  of  the  people,  as  is  eloquently  dis- 
closed by  the  census  reports — it  is  in  these  re- 
sults that  no  cause  for  complaint  or  discourage- 
ment can  be  found.  The  whole  race  here 
stands  on  improved  ground  over  that  it  occu- 
pied at  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion; 
albeit,  even  here,  the  individual  has  outstripped 
the  mass  of  the  race,  as  it  was  but  natural  that 
he  should  and  always  will.  But,  while  this  is 
true  and  gratifying  to  all  those  that  hope  the 
Afrc- American  people  well,  it  is  also  true,  and 
equally  gratifying  that,  as  far  as  the  mass  is 
concerned,  the  home  life,  the  church  and  the 
school  house  have  come  into  the  life  of  the 
people,  in  some  sort,  everywhere,  giving  the 
[232] 


Place  in  American  Life 

\\hole  race  a  character  and  a  standing  in  the 
estimation  of  mankind  which  it  did  not  have  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  presaging,  logically, 
unless  all  signs  fail,  a  development  along  high 
and  honorable  lines  in  the  future;  the  results 
from  which,  I  predict,  at  the  end  of  the  ensuing 
half  century,  builded  upon  the  foundation  al- 
ready laid,  being  such  as  to  confound  the 
prophets  of  evil,  who  never  cease  to  doubt  and 
shake  their  heads,  asking:  "Can  any  good 
thing  come  out  of  Nazareth?"  We  have  the 
answer  already  in  the  social  and  home  life  of 
the  people,  which  is  so  vast  an  improvement 
over  the  conditions  and  the  heritage  of  slavery 
as  to  stagger  the  understanding  of  those  who 
are  informed  on  the  subject,  or  will  take  the 
trouble  to  inform  themselves. 

If  we  have  much  loose  moral  living,  it  is  not 
sanctioned  by  the  mass,  wedlock  being  the  rule, 
and  not  the  exception ;  if  we  have  a  vast  volume 
of  illiteracy,  we  have  reduced  it  by  forty  per 
cent,  since  the  war,  and  the  school  houses  are 
all  full  of  children  eager  to  learn,  and  the 

[233] 


The  Negro  Problem 

schools  of  higher  and  industrial  training  can- 
not accommodate  all  those  who  knock  at  their 
doors  for  admission ;  if  we  have  more  than  our 
share  of  criminality,  we  have  also  churches  in 
every  hamlet  and  city,  to  which  a  vast  major- 
ity of  the  people  belong,  and  which  are  insist- 
ently pointing  "the  way,  the  light  and  the 
truth"  to  higher  and  nobler  living. 

Mindful,  therefore,  of  the  Negro's  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  years  of  slave  education 
and  unrequited  toil,  and  of  his  thirty  years  of 
partial  freedom  and  less  than  partial  opportun- 
ity, who  shall  say  that  his  place  in  American 
life  at  the  present  day  is  not  all  that  should  be 
reasonably  expected  of  him,  that  it  is  not  cred- 
itable to  him,  and  that  it  is  not  a  sufficient 
augury  for  better  and  nobler  and  higher  think-  \ 
ing,  striving  and  building  in  the  future? 
Social  growth  is  the  slowest  of  all  growth.  If 
there  be  signs  of  growth,  then,  there  is  reason- 
able hope  for  a  healthy  maturity.  There  are 
plenty  of  such  signs,  and  he  who  runs  may 
read  them,  if  he  will. 

[234] 


•  5 
/V3? 


ID    0 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIE! 

Illlllll  111  II  Hill  Kill  III  II  III  mil  mi  mi  im 


